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SSI Web - Linux / Unix Based Server Documentation

Server Setup Steps:

Create Files to Upload to Server
Uploading Files and Folders
Setting Permissions
Security

Additional Links:

Alternate Configuration - Common cgi-bin for all Studies
Troubleshooting - Common Mistakes

Create Files to Upload to Server

SSI Web survey authors install SSI Web on their local PC. When they are finished creating a survey, they click Field | Prepare for Web Upload.

Prepare for Web Upload assembles the files required to run the web survey. It places these files in a "Web Upload" folder inside the study folder. These files are later uploaded to the web server.

Uploading Files and Folders

The files and folders created in the Web Upload folder need to be set up and configured on your web server. The default configuration is to have a cgi-bin folder for each study. Some ISPs do not allow this. For configurations other than the default see the Alternate Configuration section.

The contents of the Web Upload folder are usually uploaded to the web server via FTP (File Transfer Protocol). FTP is a method in which you can transfer (upload) files from your local PC to the web server on the Internet. To FTP your files you will need an FTP program. We recommend WS_FTP (http://www.ipswitch.com)

When uploading files to the web server it is essential that you upload in binary mode. Binary mode ensures that the file is not changed in any way during the upload process. The size (number of bytes) of all files should be the same on the web server as they are on your local PC.

Setting Permissions

Certain permissions need to be set for SSI Web to work properly on your web server. Perl needs to be installed on the server and the Perl scripts (ciwweb.pl and admin.pl) need permission to execute. Other permissions also need to be set so that these scripts are able to read, write, and delete files in the admin and data directories.

Unix file permissions can be set through an FTP program. In WS_FTP, right-click the file, select FTP Commands, and then CHMOD. In the table below, all the files and folders necessary for SSI Web to run are explained. The Unix permissions that need to be set are also shown. "STUDYNAME" is used to represent the name of your study.

File / Directory	Description	Unix Permissions (* See notation help)
STUDYNAMElogn.htm	Login page. Entry point for respondents.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
STUDYNAMEadmn.htm	Admin Module login page. Entry point for study administrators.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
admin	Folder or directory.	703 r w x \| _ _ _ \| _ w x
STUDYNAMEqst.cgi	Main web questionnaire file.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
STUDYNAMEpath.cgi	Contains server path information.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi (see security section below)	Contains Admin Module passwords.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
STUDYNAMEpwds.cgi	Contains respondent usernames and passwords, and any merged data.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
** STUDYNAME_CBC[exerciseID]_[designID].cgi	Design file for CBC/Web studies.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
*** STUDYNAME_MXD[exerciseID]_[designID].cgi	Desgin file for MaxDiff/Web studies.	404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
cgi-bin	Folder or directory that contains all of the Perl files.	101 _ _ x \| _ _ _ \| _ _ x
ciwweb.pl		755 r w x \| r _ x \| r _ x
admin.pl		755 r w x \| r _ x \| r _ x
ciwlibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
authlibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
pverlibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
grdlibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
enterlibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
acalibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
cbclibXXX.pl		404 r _ _ \| _ _ _ \| r _ _
graphics	Folder or directory that contains all the graphics in your study.	707 r w x \| _ _ _ \| r w x
data	Folder or directory that will contain respondent data.	707 r w x \| _ _ _ \| r w x

* Unix Permission Notation - The notation consists of three sets of the letters r, w, and x. The letter "r" stands for "read", "w" for "Write" and "x" for "Execute." The first set of letters is for the Unix group "Owner", the second for "Group", and the third for "Other." So the full permissions of r w x | r w x | r w x or 777 give "read", "write", and "execute" permissions to "Owner", "Group", and "Other."

** Only for CBC/Web studies

*** Only for MaxDiff/Web studies

After uploading these files and folders, and setting correct permissions, your survey should be working. Go to STUDYNAMElogn.htm on your web site and test your survey, making sure the study behaves as expected and that it is saving data properly. Remember to log into the Administrative Module through STUDYNAMEadmn.htm to see your results and download your data.

If you are getting errors, see Trouble Shooting - Common Mistakes

Security

You are responsible for securing your web server.

Here are a few items to consider:

Make sure that *.cgi files (including password and data files) are not visible to the world. The server needs to be configured so that it will not permit a browser to display the contents of *.cgi files. One way to do this is to configure your server such that *.cgi files are treated as cgi-scripts. Make sure that you cannot use a browser to open the file containing your Admin Module passwords (STUDYNApacc.cgi). For example, you should not be able to view the contents of the STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi file if you paste an address similar to the one below (using the URL specific to your study) into your browser's address bar:

http://www.yoursite.com/yourstudy/admin/STUDYNAMEpacc.cgi
If attempting to access the *.cgi file causes an error to be posted to the screen, then this lets you know that the *.cgi files are configured correctly.

The server needs to be configured so that server directory listings are not visible to the world. Make sure that if you paste the URL to your "admin" folder into your browser's address bar, you are not able to see any file names. For example (using the URL specific to your study):

http://www.yoursite.com/yourstudy/admin/

Alternate Configuration - Common cgi-bin for all Studies

The default configuration of SSI Web has a separate cgi-bin directory inside each study root directory. Some web server configurations and ISPs do not allow this. They have a specific location where all CGI scripts must reside in order to execute. The following steps outline how to make SSI Web work with this alternate configuration:

Upload all of the SSI Web Perl files (*.pl) to the location where they have permission to execute (the "common cgi-bin").

In the authoring interface of SSI Web, go to File | Settings | Advanced Settings. Modify the default paths to account for the new location of the Perl scripts. The following list describes the Server Directory Paths that need to be modified:
- Administrative Directory: Path from the Perl scripts to the admin directory.
- CGI Scripts Directory: Path from STUDYNAMElogn.htm to the Perl scripts.
- Data Directory: Path from the Perl scripts to the data directory.
- Relative Path from CGI Scripts to Graphics: Path from the Perl scripts to the graphics directory.
- Relative Path from logn.htm to Graphics: Path from STUDYNAMElogn.htm to the graphics directory.

	
\cgi-bin
	ciwweb.pl
	admin.pl
	(etc.)
\htdocs
	\study1
		\admin
		\data
		\graphics
		STUDYNAMElogn.htm
		STUDYNAMEadmn.htm

Administrative Directory: ../htdocs/study1/admin/
CGI Scripts Directory: ../../cgi-bin/
Data Directory: ../htdocs/study1/data/
Relative Path from CGI Scripts to Graphics: ../htdocs/study1/graphics/
Relative Path from logn.htm to Graphics: graphics/

Remove STUDYNAMEpath.cgi from the admin directory. Upload the STUDYNAMEpath.cgi with the modified path information to the "common cgi-bin" directory next to the Perl scripts.