Installing The Vantage Web Module

The Vantage Web Module is a separate web application that enables other people to login and securely view the reports they have permission to view. For example, give permission to department managers to login and view only their reports.

Note: WebSpy Vantage can be used without the Web Module if this feature is not required. WebSpy Vantage can produce reports as HTML, PDF, Word, CSV or Text by itself.

Installing the Vantage Web Module installs and configures Microsoft IIS, turning your server into a Web Server. You can install the Web Module on the same machine that you installed WebSpy Vantage Ultimate, or a different machine. For example, you can have multiple instances of WebSpy Vantage Ultimate in different locations all publishing reports to a central Web Module.

Supported Operating Systems

64 bit Windows Server Operating Systems running Windows Server 2008 R2 or above. The Vantage Web Module Installer will automatically install and configure IIS with ASP.NET 4.6 if it is not already installed.

RAM / CPU Requirements

System requirements vary depending on the number of users simultaneously logging in and viewing reports, as well as the number of reports / amount of data they have access to. Below is a server specification guide based on the number of users logging into the Web Module.

Number of Web Module Users Recommended Server Specification
Less than 50 Users 2 CPUs/Cores, 4 GB RAM
50 – 1000 Users 4 CPUs/Cores, 8 GB RAM
1000 + Users 8 CPUs/Cores, 12 GB RAM
* Virtual environments are recommended so you can scale the resources as required.

Data Storage Requirements

You can publish both Reports and Storages to the WebSpy Vantage Web Module. Storages enable users to drilldown into data past the bounds of a published report. Data Storage requirements vary based mainly on the number and size of storages published to the Web Module.

If you have WebSpy Vantage and the Web Module installed on the same machine, it’s important to note that Storages within WebSpy Vantage and Storages published to the Web Module are separate, and both count towards total disk space requirements. For example, if you have a 1 GB storage in WebSpy Vantage, and you use it to publish five 200 MB storages to the Web Module for each of your five departments, then the total disk usage is 2 GB.

You can automate your own data retention policy using the Purge Data from Web Module task action which will automatically remove data older than a certain date from the Web Module.

How to Install

  1. Click the second option on the WebSpy Vantage Ultimate install launcher to launch the Vantage Web Module installer
  2. IIS Location
    The first page of the installer asks what website and sub-directory to install the Vantage Web Module into.
    • If this is a new server, or you know there are no other websites or web services running on the machine (such as Outlook OWA), then it is safe to select “Default Web Site” and leave the sub-directory option blank. The Web Module will then be available via http://servername (replace servername with your actual server’s name or IP).
    • If there are other websites running on the machine, then use the ‘sub-directory’ option to ensure the Vantage Web Module does not conflict with any other websites. The Web Module will then be available via http://servername/subdirectoryname (e.g. http://myserver/webmodule)
  3. Data Location
    The second page of the installer asks where you would like the Web Module to store data. The default is C:\Vantage Web Data. We recommend specifying a location with plenty of disk space to accommodate the storages and reports you’ll be publishing. Do not use a network path or mapped network drive. Use local drives only.