(9.1+) Installing Smart Rules

Smart Rules is installed with On-Premise Callback version 9.1 or later, and you can begin using Smart Rules immediately by selecting the "Smart Rules" tile on the Launchpad. However, additional configuration must be done after installation before using the feature.

Configure SMTP to receive emails

You will need to configure your SMTP server to receive emails from Smart Rules.Open the SmtpConfig table in the VHT_Config database and fill out the following fields:

  • SiteName

  • Host name: SMTP server

  • Port: SMTP server

  • UseSSL: secure connection option

  • UserName: Not required

  • Password: Not required

(Optional) Create a secure password

If you choose to use a password for SMTP, you will need to secure the password in order to send emails. You can encrypt your SMTP password using the following steps:

password encryptor

  1. Open the Password Encryptor in the Smart Rules engine folder.

  2. Enter a password.

  3. Click the Encrypt button.

  4. The encrypted password displays in the Encrypted Results field.

  5. Click the Copy to Clipboard for the Encrypted Results field to copy the encrypted password.

  6. Add this password to SmtpConfig table in the Configuration database.

  7. Save the configuration file.

  8. Restart Smart Rules to apply the changes

(9.5.6+) Configure user credentials

In On-Premise Callback 9.5.6 and later, you will need to configure the Smart Rules user account manually in the VHT_SmartRulesEngineService.exe.config file, via the steps below:

  1. Encrypt your chosen password via the password encryptor utility (\\Virtual Hold Technology\SmartRulesEngine\passwordecryptor.exe).

  2. Back up and open the VHT_SmartRulesEngineService.exe.config file in the same directory.

  3. In the VHT_SmartRulesEngineService.exe.config file, update the following lines with your username and encrypted password:

    <appSettings> ... <add key="SmartRulesApiUser" value="smart_rules_user"/> <add key="SmartRulesApiPassword" value="encrypted_password"/> </appSettings>

    The following example shows an updated configuration file:

    example configuration

  4. Save the changes when finished.

(9.1 and earlier) Post-installation steps

In Callback 9.1 and earlier, the Smart Rules Windows service is not configured with quotation marks ("") around the path to the executable. To avoid potential security issues, we recommend updating the executable path after installation via the following process:

  • Open the Windows Services utility (services.msc)

  • Locate the VHT Smart Rules Engine service and open the service Properties window

  • Copy and save the Service name

    • Default: VHT_Smart_Rules_Engine

  • Copy and save the Path to executable

    • Default: C:\Program Files (x86)\Virtual Hold Technology\SmartRulesEngine\VHT_SmartRulesEngineService.exe

  • Open a Command Prompt window

  • Run the following command to use the Service Control utility to change the Path to executable:

sc config <service name> binPath= "\"<path to executable>\""

  • There must be a space between binPath= and the executable path.

  • Escape characters (\") must be used to add the quotation marks, since quotation marks are already used in the command.

The following example shows the required command with default values:sc config VHT_Smart_Rules_Engine binPath= "\"C:\Program Files (x86)\Virtual Hold Technology\SmartRulesEngine\VHT_SmartRulesEngineService.exe\""When complete, you should see the following message printed to the screen:[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

  • Re-open the properties window for the Smart Rules Engine service and verify that the Path to executable is now enclosed in quotation marks.

  • Restart the Smart Rules Engine service

Check out the rest of the Smart Rules documentation to learn how to enable rules for your organization.