Difference between revisions of "System Utilities"

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==System Cleanup==
 
==System Cleanup==
With constant daily operations the log files in WHMCS can get quite large, the Cleanup Operations page allows logs to be pruned to reduce the size of the database and reduce disk space. The page is located at '''Utilities > System > System Cleanup'''
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With constant daily operations the log files in WHMCS can become quite large, the Cleanup Operations page allows logs to be pruned to reduce the size of the database and reduce disk space. The page is located at '''Utilities > System > System Cleanup'''
  
 
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Revision as of 15:44, 16 July 2014

Link Tracking

The link/ad tracker tool is designed to allow you to track your advertising campaigns. The way it works is that you can setup the various links you want to use and then instead of linking directly you use the tracking link WHMCS gives you. It then tracks the number of click throughs you get and ultimately conversions using a cookie, providing an easy way to analyse how successful different promotions and links are.

How does it all work? When the click passes through WHMCS the system increments the count by 1, but also sets a cookie on the users computer to say they used that link. Only the latest link they used is ever stored so a conversion never counts more than once, and the cookie lasts for 3 months, so if a user then places an order with that cookie still present on their computer, then the conversions count for that link increases.

How to add a tracked url

  1. Begin by going to Utilities > Link Tracking
  2. Click "Add a New Link"
  3. Enter a name to identify the link and then the URL the user should be forwarded to when followed
  4. Click Add Link
  5. The link has now been added for tracking

How to get the URL to use for tracking

  1. After adding the url for tracking, click the edit icon next to it
  2. The Link/URL field on the edit page will show the link you need to use - eg. http://demo.whmcs.com/link.php?id=1
  3. You then just link to that URL from wherever you run the promotion

How to monitor the links

  1. To see how your links are doing, just go to Utilities > Link Tracking
  2. It then lists the links you've setup for tracking, the number of clicks each has had and the number of conversions (orders)

Browser

The browser section allows you to have a communal list of links/favorites that all your staff have access to - for example you might add bookmarks for your domain registrar login page, server bandwidth monitoring pages, server tech support team, etc...

Calendar

The Calendar

The calendar lists all pending, active and suspended products, addons, domains and to-do items on the dates they are due. When used in conjunction with our Project Management Addon it will also display the due date of projects. It allows you to easily see at a glance upcoming payments, domain expiration and projects for each date.

You can also add your own events and tasks to the calendar. These can be either one time events or regular recurring events (eg. server payments, admin tasks, etc...) and an even can span multiple days. To add an event, simply click the date you want to add it on and fill in the popup. To edit and event click on it on the scheduled day and a popup will appear to allow adjustments.

With a lot going on the calendar can get busy so the Show/Hide filters can be used to reduce the amount of data being displayed. Detailed weekly and daily listings are available by clicking the appropriate button in the top right corner of the calendar.

A widget is also available on the admin homepage which displays today's events, allows you to see what events are scheduled for any day in the current month and even add new events - directly from the admin summary!

To-Do List

The to do list allows you to add tasks that need to be carried out, the dates they are due for completion by and the admin they are assigned to. To-Do Items can also have an unlimited length description for storing additional information about the task. The To-Do list is accessed via Utilities > To-Do List. Due items are shown on the admin homepage widget.

Enabling/disabling of automated domain-related To-Do entry creation is controlled in the General Settings.

Activity Logs

WHMCS logs all activity, admin logins, gateway communications, sent and received email communications and domain lookups. This allows you to monitor and track all the activity taking place inside your WHMCS system. The logs can be found in the Utilities menu and include:

  • Activity Log
  • Admin Login Log
  • Gateway Log
  • Ticket Mail Import Log
  • WHOIS Lookup History Log

Over time, log records in your WHMCS System will build up. As the number of records grows, so will your database and you may begin noticing a reduction in performance. Luckily however, WHMCS allows you to empty these logs any time you like should they start affecting performance. You can see the size of your database by going to Utilities > Database Status. To empty your logs, use the following steps:

  1. Login to your WHMCS Admin Area
  2. Go to Utilities > System Cleanup
  3. You will then see options to empty each of the 5 log tables listed above
  4. To empty a log table, simply click the Go button next to that table
  5. A confirmation message will then appear confirming the log table has been emptied

Database Backups

The database is where all your WHMCS data is stored and so is very important. It is therefore recommended that you take regular backups of it. There are 2 built in solutions for automated backing up the database using the daily cron - one is email and the other is an FTP backup to a remote server. Configuration instructions can be found on the Backups Page.

System Cleanup

With constant daily operations the log files in WHMCS can become quite large, the Cleanup Operations page allows logs to be pruned to reduce the size of the database and reduce disk space. The page is located at Utilities > System > System Cleanup

Note:
Take care to only delete information you're certain is no longer required (for audit purposes etc). WHMCS Technical Support may be unable to assist in some matters if the relevant logs have been removed.

Empty Gateway Log

Clears out the Billing > Gateway Log of communication between you and your payment gateways. Transactions and invoices are unaffected.

Empty Whois Lookup Log

Clears out the Utilities > Logs > WHOIS Lookup Log of the domains that have been checked by clients.

Empty Ticket Mail Import Log

Clears out the Utilities > Logs > Ticket Mail Import Log of the record of emails piped into the WHMCS ticket system. The tickets themselves are unaffected.

Empty Template Cache

WHMCS caches templates into static files to reduce the loading time of each page. In order for template changes to take effect it is necessary to clear the cached files.

In order to do this one should remove all existing files from the templates_c folder which you can do quickly and easily using this option. Please ensure the /templates_c directory is writeable so that WHMCS is able to delete the cache files and generate new ones.

Prune Client Activity Logs

Select a date and any client entries in the Utilities > Logs > Activity Log before that date will be removed. Non client related entries will remain.

Prune Saved Emails

Select a date and any emails recorded in the Utilities > Logs > Email Message Log before that date will be removed.

Prune Old Attachments

Select a date and any support ticket attachments uploaded before that date will be removed from the ticket and also deleted from the /attachments directory.