System Utilities

Link Tracking

The link or ad tracker tool allows you to track your advertising campaigns. You can set up 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 clickthroughs you get and, ultimately, conversions, using a cookie and 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 one, but also sets a cookie on the user's computer to say they used that link. The system only stores the latest link they used, so a conversion never counts more than once. The cookie lasts for three months, so if a user then places an order with that cookie still present on their computer, the conversion count for that link increases.

How to add a tracked URL

To do this:

1. Begin by going to Utilities > Link Tracking.
2. Click "Add a New Link".
3. Enter a name to identify the link and the URL to forward the user to.
4. Click Add Link. The system will add the link for tracking.

How to get the URL to use for tracking

To do this:

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 (for example, http://demo.whmcs.com/link.php?id=1)
3. Link to that URL from wherever you run the promotion.

How to monitor the links

To check on your links, go to Utilities > Link Tracking. WHMCS lists the links you've set up for tracking, the number of clicks each has had, and the number of conversions (orders).

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 you use this 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 (for example, server payments or admin tasks) and can span multiple days. To add an event, click the date you want to add it on and fill in the popup. To edit an event, click on it on the scheduled day and a popup will appear to allow adjustments.

If the calendar becomes busy, you can use the Show/Hide filters to reduce the amount of displayed data. Detailed weekly and daily listings are available by clicking the appropriate button in the top right corner of the calendar.

A widget, available on the admin homepage, displays today's events, and allows you to see the scheduled events 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 finished, the dates they are due for completion, and the assigned admin. To-Do Items can also have an unlimited length description for storing additional information about the task. Access the To-Do list via Utilities > To-Do List. The admin homepage widget displays due items.

Enable or disable automated domain-related To-Do entry creation 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. You can find the logs in the Utilities menu. They include:

• Activity Log
• Admin Log
• Module Log
• Email Message Log
• Ticket Mail Import Log
• WHOIS Lookup History Log

Note: The Email Message Log will log all emails that WHMCS sends to clients, with the exception of the "Automated Password Reset", "Client Email Address Verification", and "Password Reset Validation" emails.

Over time, log records in your WHMCS System will accumulate. As the number of records grows, so will your database, and you may begin noticing a reduction in performance. If these start affecting performance, WHMCS allows you to empty them at any time. To empty your logs, perform the following actions:

1. Log in to your WHMCS Admin Area.
2. Navigate to the Utilities > System Cleanup. You will see options to empty the Gateway, and WHOIS Lookup logs.
3. Click the Go button next to the log you would like to empty. A confirmation message will then appear, confirming that the system emptied the log.

Additionally, from the same Cleanup Operations page, you can prune the Client Activity Logs so that the system only maintains entries after a specified date. To do this, enter in your desired date, and click on the Delete button. Again, a confirmation message will then appear to confirm that the system pruned the log.

Database Backups

WHMCS stores its data in your database, so is very important. It is therefore recommended that you take regular backups of it. There are two built-in solutions for automated database backups using the daily cron. One is email and the other is an FTP backup to a remote server. You can find configuration instructions on the Backups Page.

System Cleanup

With constant daily operations, the log files in WHMCS can become quite large. The Cleanup Operations page allows you to prune logs to reduce the size of the database and reduce disk space. You can find this at Utilities > System > System Cleanup.

Note:
Only delete information you're certain is no longer necessary (for example, for audit purposes). WHMCS Technical Support may be unable to assist in some matters if you have removed the relevant logs.

Empty Gateway Log

This clears out the Billing > Gateway Log of communication between you and your payment gateways. It does not affect transactions and invoices.

Empty Whois Lookup Log

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

Empty Ticket Mail Import Log

This clears out the Utilities > Logs > Ticket Mail Import Log of the record of emails you piped into the WHMCS ticket system. It does not affect tickets themselves.

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, remove all existing files from the templates_c folder, which you can do quickly and easily using this option. Make sure 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 to remove any client entries in the Utilities > Logs > Activity Log before that date. Non-client-related entries will remain.

Prune Saved Emails

Select a date to remove any emails in the Utilities > Logs > Email Message Log before that date.

Prune Old Attachments

Select a date to remove any support ticket attachments from before that date from the ticket. The system will also delete them from the /attachments directory.