Installation and Getting Started

• In Windows

• In Linux

In Windows

Follow the steps given below to install and set up the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus application:

1. Download the ManageEngine_ServiceDesk_Plus.exe file.

2. Click the exe file to start the installation. The ServiceDesk Plus installation wizard appears as shown below,

3. Click Next to proceed with the installation.   

4. The second screen displays the License Agreement. You need to accept the license agreement to proceed with the installation. Click Yes to accept.

5. On accepting the license agreement, the installation wizard provides you with the option to choose between the Standard, Professional and the Enterprise Edition.
   
   Standard Edition - This edition offers Help Desk management, self-service portal, knowledge base, SLA management and Help Desk report to help you manage and track your requests.
   Professional Edition - This edition offers Software compliance & license tracking, Product Catalog, NMS integration, Asset Reports and few other asset related process along with the features of Standard Edition.
   Enterprise Edition - This is an ITIL ready Helpdesk. It includes all features of Professional Edition plus Incident management, Problem management, Change management & Configuration management database (CMDB).  
   
    

A free and trial version is provided for Standard and Professional Edition. The Free Version never expires and is restricted to a single technician login with 25 nodes. The Trial Version is valid only for 30 days and allows 2 technician logins with 200 nodes. The Enterprise Edition is provided only with a trial version which is valid for 30 days with 5 technician logins with 200 nodes.

6. The next step is choosing the installation directory. By default, the application is installed in C:\ManageEngine\ServiceDesk directory.

If you want to change the installation directory, then, click the Browse button beside the directory path. From the file chooser window, choose the directory of your choice and click Ok.

7. Provide a name that needs to appear in the Program Folders. By default, it is ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus. Click Next.

8. Enter the port number that has to be used to run the web server. The default port number provided is 8080. If you already have any application running in that port, then enter the number of the port that is free and can be used by the web server to run the ServiceDesk Plus application server and click Next.

7. Choose the Database between MY SQL and MS SQL. By default ServiceDesk Plus supports My SQL database, to switch over to MS SQL database you need to configure SQL server to establish connection and start the server. Enter the details as given below,

• Host Name: Enter the IP Address/host name in which the database is available. The default host name is 'localhost'.

• Port: Specify the port in the given text field. The default value is 1433.

• Database : By default the database name will be Servicedesk in non-editable format.

• User Name: Specify the user name to login to the server in the given text field.

• Password: Specify the password for the username in the given text field.

11. Click Next. The Registration for Technical Support form is displayed which enables you to register for technical assistance. By registering, it helps the technical support team to be better informed about your organization and its specific needs and hence provide a more focused support. Enter the details such as Name, contact Email Address, Phone Number (helps in making calls for immediate support), Company Name, and Country. The Email Address is a mandatory field. Click Next.

13. The details that you have provided till now will be displayed as below for your confirmation:
    Installation Directory : C:\ManageEngine\ServiceDesk
    Folder Name : ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
    WebServer Port : 8080
    
    
    If the displayed information is correct, then click the Next button, or else click the Back button and make the necessary changes and proceed with the installation.

14. After you confirm the above details, the application is installed. On successful installation, the following screen is displayed.
    
    
    
    If you choose to start the ServiceDesk as Service, then the ServiceDesk Server is started automatically and the client window opens. If you do not wish to view the readme file or start ServiceDesk as a windows service, de-select the options provided.

13. Click Finish to complete the installation.

If you had followed the instructions in the wizard and installed the application with the default settings suggested by the wizard, the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus program group is created in the Start menu. Also, the ServiceDesk server will be started and the client window opens with the login page. Enter the user name and password to log in to the application.

To manually start the ServiceDesk Plus application

1. Click Start -> Programs -> ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus -> ServiceDesk Server to start the web server. This takes approximately 2 minutes in a Windows XP, 512 MB RAM, and 1.0 GHZ processor. Generally, the server is started and the web client is also launched in the default browser.

2. If the web client is not launched automatically, then click Start -> Programs -> ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus -> ServiceDesk Web Client to start the web client. The application opens the login page in your default web browser.

3. Enter your user name "administrator" and password "administrator" to log in to ServiceDesk Plus. As soon as you log in the configuration wizard home page is displayed. Follow the instructions provided in the wizard and click the Next button.

To configure your application settings, refer to the Configurations section.

To shut down the ServiceDesk Plus application

1. Click Start -> Programs -> ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus -> Shutdown ServiceDesk. A confirmation message is displayed.

2. Click OK to proceed with the shut down.

Alternatively, you can also right-click on the system tray icon and choose Shut down Server. A confirmation message is displayed. Click OK to shut down ServiceDesk Plus.

In Linux

Follow the steps given below to install and setup the ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus application:

1. Download the ManageEngine_ServiceDesk_Plus.bin file.

2. Execute the .bin as given below, at your command prompt:
   
   ./ServiceDesk_Plus.bin
    

   Note: You need to have execute permissions for executing the .bin type files.

    

   The following screen of the installation wizard is opened and the you will be guided through the installation process.
    

   

3. Click Next and follow the steps given in the installation wizard.

4. The second screen displays the License Agreement. You need to accept the license agreement to proceed with the installation. Click Yes to accept.

5. On accepting the license agreement, the installation wizard provides you with the option to choose between the Standard, Professional and the Enterprise Edition.
   
   Standard Edition - This edition offers Help Desk management, self-service portal, knowledge base, SLA management and Help Desk report to help you manage and track your requests.
   Professional Edition - This edition offers Software compliance & license tracking, Product Catalog, NMS integration, Asset Reports and few other asset related process along with the features of Standard Edition.
   Enterprise Edition - This is an ITIL ready Helpdesk. It includes all features of Professional Edition plus Incident management, Problem management, Change management & Configuration management database (CMDB).  
   
   A trial and free version is provided for Standard and Professional Edition. The Free Version never expires and is restricted to a single technician login with 25 nodes. The Trial Version is valid only for 30 days and allows 2 technician logins with 200 nodes. The Enterprise Edition is provided only with a trial version which is valid for 30 days with 5 technician logins with 200 nodes.
    

6. The next step is choosing the installation directory. By default, the application is installed in home/<user>/ManageEngine/ServiceDesk directory. If you want to change the installation directory, then, click the Browse button beside the directory path.

7. From the file chooser window, choose the directory of your choice and click Next.

8. Enter the port number that has to be used to run the web server. The default port number provided is 8080. If you already have any application running in that port, then enter the number of the port that is free and can be used by the web server to run the ServiceDesk Plus application server and click Next.
    

   Note: If you wish to provide a port number lesser than 1024 as the web server port, then you need to be the super-user of the system to successfully install and run ServiceDesk Plus application.

9. The Registration for Technical Support form is displayed which enables you to register for technical assistance. By registering, it helps the technical support team to be better informed about your organization and its specific needs and hence provide a more focused support. Enter the details such as Name, contact Email Address, Phone Number (helps in making calls for immediate support), Company Name, and Country. The Email Address is a mandatory field. Click Next.

10. The details that you have provided till now will be displayed as below for your confirmation:
    
    Details of Installation
    Installation Directory: home/<user>/ManageEngine/ServiceDesk
    Product Size           : 62.8 MB.

    If the displayed information is correct, then click the Next button, or else click the Back button and make the necessary changes and proceed with the installation.

11. After you confirm the above details, the application is installed. On successful installation, the following screen is displayed.
     

     

    If you do not wish to view the Readme file, de-select the check box.

12. Click Finish to complete the installation.

To manually start the ServiceDesk Plus application

1. Go to the <ServiceDesk Plus>/bin directory and execute the run.sh file as given below:
   
   $ sh run.sh

2. To start the web client, open a web browser and type the following in the address field:
   
   http://localhost:8080
   
   Here, you need to replace the localhost with the corresponding server name where the ServiceDesk Plus web server is running and the port number 8080 should be replaced with the actual port where the server is running. The application opens the login page in your default web browser.

3. Enter your user name "administrator" and password "administrator" to log in to ServiceDesk Plus. As soon as you login the configuration wizard home page is displayed. Follow the instructions provided in the wizard and click the Next button.

To configure your application settings, refer to the Configurations section.

To shutdown the ServiceDesk Plus application

execute shutdown.sh file from the bin directory as below:

sh shutdown.sh -S