If you check the ASP code in my previous post you will see that there is a subroutine called RequestPack that accepts two parameters: NEEDED_GROUP and FILE. So whenever a user is not allowed there is an IF/THEN clause that, in case of not allowance to download a file, redirects the user to the RequestPack subroutine.

if Licensed = True then

Call GimmePack(FILE)

else

    Call RequestPack(NEEDED_GROUP, FILE)

End if

What the RequestPack will do is to redirect the user to a page called request_package.asp where he/she will be asked if they want to request access to this package, if yes an email will be sent to the Download Center administrator with all necessary information.

Here is the RequestPack routine, present in the download_special.asp page, that builds the link to the request_package.asp page:

Sub RequestPack(NEEDED_GROUP, FILE)

    Response.Redirect “request_package.asp?UserName=” & UCase(USERID) & “?Group=” & NEEDED_GROUP & “?File=” & FILE & ” ”

End Sub

Hereafter the code for the request_package.asp page, in the next post we will start seeing the Administration part of the Download Center where we can add/remove packages, define site’ subnets, configure the replication between distribution points and so on so….stay tuned!!!

======CODE======

<%

USERID = Request.querystring(“UserName”)

NEEDED_GROUP = Request.querystring(“Group”)

FILE = Request.querystring(“File”)

File1 = Split(FILE,”.”)

%>

<center><hr width=50% color=006699><font face=”Tahoma” color=”#006699″> <% response.write UCase(USERID) %> requests <% response.write UCase(File1(0)) %></center><hr width=50% color=006699>

<!–webbot BOT=”GeneratedScript” PREVIEW=” ” startspan –><script Language=”JavaScript” Type=”text/javascript”><!–

function FrontPage_Form1_Validator(theForm)

{

if (theForm.Confirmation.value == “”)

{

alert(“Please enter a value for the \”Confirmation\” field.”);

theForm.Confirmation.focus();

return (false);

}

if (theForm.Confirmation.value.length < 2)

{

alert(“Please enter at least 2 characters in the \”Confirmation\” field.”);

theForm.Confirmation.focus();

return (false);

}

if (theForm.Confirmation.value.length > 3)

{

alert(“Please enter at most 3 characters in the \”Confirmation\” field.”);

theForm.Confirmation.focus();

return (false);

}

var checkOK = “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzƒŠŒŽšœžŸÀÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈÉÊËÌÍÎÏÐÑÒÓÔÕÖØÙÚÛÜÝÞßàáâãäåæçèéêëìíîïðñòóôõöøùúûüýþÿ”;

var checkStr = theForm.Confirmation.value;

var allValid = true;

var validGroups = true;

for (i = 0; i < checkStr.length; i++)

{

ch = checkStr.charAt(i);

for (j = 0; j < checkOK.length; j++)

if (ch == checkOK.charAt(j))

break;

if (j == checkOK.length)

{

allValid = false;

break;

}

}

if (!allValid)

{

alert(“Please enter only letter characters in the \”Confirmation\” field.”);

theForm.Confirmation.focus();

return (false);

}

return (true);

}

//–></script><!–webbot BOT=”GeneratedScript” endspan –><form method=”GET” action=”request_package.asp” onsubmit=”return FrontPage_Form1_Validator(this)” language=”JavaScript” name=”FrontPage_Form1″>

<p align=”center”><font face=”Tahoma” color=”#006699″>You are going to request the license for the software package <b><% response.write File1(0) %></b> do you confirm the request?</font></p>

<p align=”center”>

<!–webbot bot=”Validation” s-display-name=”Confirmation” s-data-type=”String” b-allow-letters=”TRUE” b-value-required=”TRUE” i-minimum-length=”2″ i-maximum-length=”3″ –><input type=”text” name=”Confirmation” size=”20″ value=”Please type YES or NO” maxlength=”3″></p>

<p align=”center”><input type=”submit” value=”Submit” name=”B1″></p>

</form>

</font>

<%

if Request.querystring(“Confirmation”) = “Please type YES or NO” then

elseif Request.querystring(“Confirmation”) = “YES” then

    Set objEmail = CreateObject(“CDO.Message”)

    objEmail.From = download_center@mydomain.com ‘BE SURE TO CHANGE THIS

    objEmail.To = “dloadcenter_admin@mydomain.com”‘BE SURE TO CHANGE THIS

    objEmail.Subject = “[Download Center 2.0] Package request from: ” & UCase(USERID)

    BodyTxt = “The user ” & UCase(USERID) & ” must be added to ” & NEEDED_GROUP & ” group in order to be allowed to download <b>” & FILE & “</b>” & vcbcrlf

    objEmail.Textbody = BodyTxt & “Please verify with the user’s manager to see if the user is allowed to download this software.”

    objEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item(“http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/sendusing”) = 2

    objEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item(“http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserver”) = “mail.lamrc.com”

    objEmail.Configuration.Fields.Item(“http://schemas.microsoft.com/cdo/configuration/smtpserverport”) = 25

    objEmail.Configuration.Fields.Update

    objEmail.Send

Else

    Response.redirect(“default.asp”)

End If

%><head><title>..:: Download Center ::..</title></head>

======END CODE======

So, first create a new MSAccess database and then create a table called “Packages” like the following:

ID:         Auto increment

PackageDesc:    Contains a short description of the file (E.g. Microsoft FrontPage)

PackageName:    Is the filename, avoid using spaces (E.g. “MSaccess.exe” better than “MS Access.exe”) because this will be used to construct the download link

PackageType:    Can be Special or Standard or Goodie. Standard/Goodie will be available for download to everyone while Special will be only for the users that are members of given groups.

NeededGroup:    In case of Special package the visiting user must be part of this group in order to download the package.

Then create another table called “Sites” as the following:

Country:    Short name of the Country (E.g. ITA=Italy, GER=Germany)

Subnet:        The third octet of the country/site’s IP address range (E.g. ITA= 192.168.39.x)

Distrib_Point:    The web server in the given country (E.g. websrv_ITA)

The first table will handle information on the packages themselves and whether they’re freely accessible or not; the second table instead will be used in order to redirect the user to his/her local web server in order to save bandwidth. This is applicable only in environments in which the IP subnets are correctly set for country level and where in every country or site there is a local IIS web site.

In the next post I’ll be showing you how to build the homepage for this site and the techniques used for it….keep on reading!

This is just a soft start, in this page we will create a page that shows the groups on the client computer that is surfing the ASP page and their relative members.

First we need to understand that this will work only in an environment where the security has been correctly set and on the IIS server for the directory where we will store the ASP files, the anonymous authentication has been disabled and the Windows authentication enabled. This must be done otherwise the pages will be run with the IUSR_xxxx account that has no privilege on the computers, if we enable the Windows authentication instead, the pages will be run by the logged on User.

Here is our first ASP page, copy the text below and paste it to your local_groups_members.asp page in the folder for the self service portal and run it.

==================================

<%@ language=”VBSCRIPT” %>

<%

Dim ComputerName

ComputerName = Request.ServerVariables(“REMOTE_HOST”)

%>

<html>

<head>

<meta name=”GENERATOR” content=”SAPIEN Technologies PrimalScript 3.1″>

<meta http-equiv=”Content-Type” content=”text/html; charset=iso-8859-1″>

<title>[<% Response.Write ComputerName %>] Local Groups and their members</title>

</head>

<body>

<%

Set colGroups = GetObject(“WinNT://” & ComputerName & “”)

colGroups.Filter = Array(“group”)

Response.Write “<font face=tahoma size=3>”

Response.Write “Here is the list of the local Groups and their members for computer:<b>” & ComputerName & “</b><br><br>”

Response.Write “<table border=2 bordercolor=#006699>” & VbCrLf

For Each objGroup In colGroups

Response.Write “<tr><td bgcolor=’#006699′><font face=tahoma size=3 color=’white’> <b>” & objGroup.Name & “ </td></tr>” & VbCrLf

For Each objUser in objGroup.Members

Response.Write “<tr><td bgcolor=white><font face=tahoma size=2 color=’#006699′> ” & objUser.Name & “ </td></tr>” & VbCrLf

Next

Next

Response.Write “</table>” & VbCrLf

%>

</body>

</html>

==================================

First we need that the Internet Information Server (IIS) is installed on the server that will host the intranet pages, we also need that ASP extension is enabled on the server and, obviously, that the pages will be secured.

Once we have installed the IIS and enabled the ASP extension, open the IIS manager disable the Anonymous access and enable Windows authentication; this must be done because doing so only domain users (or the ones that you will add/remove from the security tab, will be able to read these pages.

In one of my previous jobs where I was asked to manage the licensing for the company software I accomplished to this by managing the licenses only for users in certain groups so in order to do this I suggest you creating security groups for your licensed software (E.g. MSProject, MSAccess etc), by creating these groups it will be easy for you to add/remove the users to the groups and have them download/install the software only if they belong to this groups. So, for example, only if a user is a member of MSAccess will be enabled to access the Microsoft Access download and install page and, in the future, it will be easy for you to create your auditing scripts that will check which software the users have installed on their computer and if they have the right to do that.

In the next article we will start with a simple ASP page that will show which are the groups and their member present on the computer visiting the Intranet page.

The project was a complex one but at the end of it the satisfaction level grew up from ~60% to more than 85%!

A lot of actions were made at that moment, such as:

• Implementing costs visibility (and subsequent costs lowering) for telecommunications
• Better management of company’s software licenses
• Self service intranet pages and tools
• Many other stuff

In the next posts I’ll cover the idea and the design of a self service portal that you can build at no costs and that will give the users a feeling of “personalized solutions” and on the other hand will lower the calls load on your helpdesk.

Stay tuned and see how to pump up your environment!