Deployment with Docker

You can install and run Survey Solutions Headquarters using our official Docker image.

Prerequisite

Survey Solutions container can be executed on any hosting system that is capable of running linux/amd64 containers. Please refer to docker documentation page on how to install Docker for Your operating system - https://docs.docker.com/get-docker

Survey Solutions has linux based container image and cannot be run in Windows Containers. To run Survey Solutions in Docker on Windows you will need WSL2

October 24, 2024

Workspace Settings

Survey Solutions server administrator may adjust the workspace settings. These settings affect simultaneously all surveys and all users in a particular workspace on the server and have the effect immediately when applied.

These settings are visible only to the user logged in in an administrative role and can be accessed from:

• for the current workspace: Menu → Settings → Workspace settings.
• for any other workspace: Menu → Administration → click particular workspace name → Settings.

Export Encryption

This group of settings contains settings that control the encryption of the data archive produced when exporting the data from Survey Solutions.

Server Installation

Installation has following steps:

1. Installing PostgreSQL
2. Installing SurveySolutions
3. Post installation configuration

Installing PostgreSQL

Make sure that you have an installed and running instance of PostgreSQL before running SurveySolutions.exe

You can download PostgreSQL from here and run the setup. Pick the latest stable version (note: Survey Solutions will not work with PostgreSQL prior to version 10.0).

During the process you’ll set the password for the database superuser:

Configuring Export in a Survey Solutions Server Farm

Massive operations involving millions of respondents present considerable load on the infrastructure servicing the requests where Survey Solutions is deployed. This results in server administrators finding themselves in a situation where they need to scale up the infrastructure to ensure the system remains reliable and responsive. Such situations are neither new, nor specific to Survey Solutions software, but merely reflect the peaks in demand for resources that may fluctuate depending on the time of day, impact of ad campaigns, and other factors.

Procedures for maintenance

This page contains an outline of procedures that you may need to perform as instructed by developers. Please, pay attention to the steps and record the values and messages as instructed.

PROCEDURE B1

On the tablet:

1. Make sure you are logged out of the Interviewer application.
2. Reboot the tablet.
3. Start the Interviewer App.
4. Log in as interviewer,
5. Send to the person providing assistance (see bullets 3, 4, and 6 here):

• the interviewer trace logs,
• all tablet information, and
• all technical information.

Interviewer trace logs shall be picked by the server administrator by visiting the corresponding server administration page: device logs.

Healthcheck

Survey Solutions server administrator has access to the special healthcheck page using the following: menu → Administration → Diagnostics.

The health check diagnostics page shows:

1. Overall server health status.
2. Results of diagnostic checks.
3. Server metrics.
4. Statistics by workspace of the server.

Overall server health check

The following can be the statuses for the healthcheck:

• Healthy (green) - export service is responding and can access headquarters;
• Degraded (yellow) - export service is not answering;
• Unhealthy (red) - export service cannot access headquarters;

Results of diagnostic checks.

These are the diagnostic checks related to server configuration: whether the settings are set up correctly and the different components are able to talk to each other. Most of these settings are taken from the application configuration file, which is modified during the server post-installation configuration.

Demo server

Survey Solutions developers team provides a special demo server equipped with the latest version of the Survey Solutions Headquarters for the users that want to:

• explore the interface of the software,
• try different roles,
• test pre-loading data files,
• see the new features added in a recent release.

It is important to understand that this server may not be utilized for real survey data collection, because this server is a public server that anyone in the world can access, and also because the demo server is also periodically cleared (erazed), when it accumulates a lot of old surveys or users that are no longer active, usually once a month.

Server storage space

This article explains the importance of adequate storage space for a Survey Solutions server.

Survey Solutions saves a lot of data. Database sizes in the size of tens of GBs are commonly observed even in small surveys. Population censuses may consume TBs of data.

Survey Solutions stores the data:

• in the database and
• in files on file system of the server.

It is crucial that the system doesn’t run out of storage for its continuous and reliable operation.

Support tool

Survey Solutions comes with a built-in support tool that can be used in special situations:

• where an action needs to be taken programmatically;
• where an action may not be taken through the web interface.

The support tool is being called via a command line (while being in the directory where Survey Solutions is installed), we type:

WB.UI.Headquarters.exe manage ...

followed by one of the following commands:

version
users
workspaces
migration

These commands and their subcommands and options are described below.

PDS password reset

How can I reset a password for a PDS should I forget it?

If you forget your password for the demo server, you can reset it, by right-clicking the server name, and selecting the Request password reset menu item in the self-service portal. The new password will be automatically generated and sent to your email. The older password will no longer be valid.

How do I know that a new password has been sent to me?

Password reset requests for PDS servers are processed automatically and the new password usually arrives within minutes after the request is submitted. You will see a notification of the password reset in the Notifications section of the self-service portal. When you see the notification this means that our system has processed your request, and sent out the new password. The notification as you see it in the portal will not show the actual password value, but rather it is covered with asterisks (a star-character: * ). The actual password can only be retrieved from the message you receive in your mailbox. It cannot be seen in the portal. It is not known to our support staff.