Overview

The goal of this support article is to outline the process and connectivity that SimpleRisk uses to register an instance and download our Extras.


Registering Your SimpleRisk Instance

When you first install your SimpleRisk instance, it will recommend registering your instance.  If you dismiss that message, you can always go back to the registration page by selecting "Configure" followed by "Register & Upgrade".  SimpleRisk will create a random instance identifier which you will see at the top of that page.  This value is stored with a name of "instance_id" in the settings table in your SimpleRisk instance.  On the left side of that page, you will see a section labeled "Registration Information".  Enter your information and submit it.


When submitted, SimpleRisk makes a call to a RESTful web service running at https://services.simplerisk.com.  It passes the following information to that web service:

  • Instance ID
  • Name
  • Company
  • Title
  • Phone
  • Email

The web service captures that information and creates a unique API key for your instance to use to communicate with it going forward.  This value is stored with a name of "services_api_key" in the settings table in your SimpleRisk instance.  


Once your SimpleRisk instance has been registered successfully, your instance will make another call to https://services.simplerisk.com passing the following information:

  • Instance ID
  • API Key

It will request to download the SimpleRisk Upgrade Extra which our server will provide once the instance ID and API key are authenticated.  SimpleRisk will download the file and place it in the system temp directory.  The file will be decompressed and extracted and then copied over the the "extras" directory for your SimpleRisk instance.  If that directory does not exist, SimpleRisk will attempt to automatically create it for you.


Purchasing SimpleRisk Extras

If you purchase one of our SimpleRisk Extras, SimpleRisk will follow the same process outlined above with the Upgrade Extra for the purchased software.  The only difference is that a process on the web service will determine whether or not your instance has been authorized for the download.


Getting the Current Versions

When you go to the "Configure" menu and select "Register & Upgrade" it will need to determine whether your current version of the Extras are at the latest versions.  To do this, your SimpleRisk instance will make a call to https://updates.simplerisk.com/Current_Version.xml.  If there is a difference between the current version and the version installed, SimpleRisk will let you know by presenting you with an "Upgrade" button.  If you select to "Upgrade", SimpleRisk will follow the process outlined above to download, extract, and copy over the new version of the purchased SimpleRisk Extra.


Troubleshooting

  • Ensure that your SimpleRisk instance files are writeable by the user that the web server runs as.  If this is not the case, then SimpleRisk will not be able to download and install updates.
  • Ensure that your SimpleRisk instance is able to communicate via HTTPS (port 443) with the following domains:
    • services.simplerisk.com
    • updates.simplerisk.com
    • ping.simplerisk.com
    • github.com
    • olbat.github.io