Initialization of the Installation

• Call the SoSci Survey directory in the browser – via HTTP or HTTPS: (http://www.domain.tld/sosci/). The URL is composed of domain and directory.
• You should now see a notice that installation is required – follow the link.
  • Note: Alternatively, you can call the installation (admin/install.php) directly (http://www.domain.tld/sosci/admin/install.php).
  • Note: When calling or in the course of the installation there may be longer waiting times (up to approx. 2 minutes). The installation then tests the database and server configuration.
• The installation routine now wants to know the access data for the database server (database user) as well as some additional information from you. Please also take the hints of the installation routine for possible problems seriously.
  • Note: You can change or adjust all settings later.
  • Note: If you do not want unknown people to set up a survey project on your server, you should enter a Registration password in the settings.
  • Note: If nothing happens for a long time after specifying the database server and/or a blank page appears, the address of the database server is probably incorrect. The Windows server sometimes does not accept the entry “localhost” and instead expects the IP address 127.0.0.1. If necessary, test the credentials with a tool like HeidiSQL.

After successful installation, you can log in as administrator. You should set a password immediately:

• Log in with the administrator login “admin”
• Under Server Management → “Server Settings”, you can make further settings for the server as required.

Now the installation is completed. From now on, further user accounts can be registered and survey projects can be created (User account and setup of survey).

If you use SoSci Survey in an environment with a proxy and/or load balancer, check the following settings under Server Settings in the tab Server:

• URL of the server – here, the URL must be entered under which the server is accessible for users. If an internal server name is shown here, the proxy does not set the variable HTTP_HOST correctly. If necessary, enter the correct URL here.
• Server variable for user IP – check whether the IP address with which your workstation accesses the server is displayed below the dropdown. If an IP address from the infrastructure is displayed here (e.g. proxy or load balancer), select a different setting in the dropdown (e.g. “HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR”), save, and check the displayed IP address again.

Note: If the Server variable for user IP is not set correctly, users may be logged out sporadically while working in SoSci Survey.