3. KronoDesk

Articles
Data Export Options from Spira & KronoDesk After Termination of Service

In the Inflectra Cloud Hosting Terms of Service (ToS), it mentions: "In the event this Agreement is terminated, Inflectra will make available to Organization a file of the Data within thirty (30) days of termination".  Some customers have asked what format the data will be in.

Remove IIS Server version HTTP Response Header

By default, the IIS web server used by Spira and KronoDesk will include an HTTP Header that discloses the name and version of the web server being used. It is often recommended by security experts that this header be hidden to make it more difficult for potential hackers to know what platform is being used by the application. This article explains how you can hide this header.

Loading Users into KronoDesk from Excel using Rapise

We had a customer that needed to load in a batch of customer users into our KronoDesk service desk platform. The built-in Excel add-on is only able to import help desk tickets, not users. So in this article we explain how you can use Rapise to bulk load in the data using the KronoDesk REST API.

Integrating Spira On-Premise with KronoDesk - Add Incident Request Fails

We had a customer that was integrating Spira that was hosted on-premise with a cloud instance of KronoDesk. When they used the feature to log the incident in Spira from a KronoDesk ticket, the incident was created in Spira, but the information did not reflect back in KronoDesk, and an error message was displayed.

Update LDAP Distinguished Name of Existing User

Spira and KronoDesk let you import existing users from LDAP into the system. That will bring over the users, and also link their user profile to their LDAP user by means of the LDAP Distinguished Name (or DN). However if you move a user in the LDAP folder structure, it may break the link with Spira, resulting in that user not being able to login.

Web Server Performance - IIS Worker Process Current Requests

Most on-premise Spira and KronoDesk installations will be using the Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Server to serve the application to users.  If you are experiencing performance problems or slow page load times (and you cannot move to our cloud version), this article will help you troubleshoot IIS worker process requests.

Company's Firewall Blocking Spira HTTPS Traffic

We had a customer that was using a VPN / Firewall to access our cloud instances of Spira. Most firewalls simply pass through the HTTPS traffic on port 443 unaltered. However some more stringent ones actually decrypt the HTTPS traffic, inspect the packets and then re-encrypt it for the user. In one case, this was causing an ERR_CONNECTION_CLOSED error.

IIS Application Pool Identity and Windows Integrated Security

When using Spira or KronoDesk on a separate web and database server, the easiest configuration is to use SQL Server authentication to connect between the web server and database. However that means hard coding a password in the web server (in the Web.config file). So in this article we explain how to use Windows Integrated Authentication instead.

Inflectra Cloud Standard Maintenance Schedule

This article provides some information on the maintenance activities we do on our cloud platform

Defaulting Your System to use TLS 1.2 for .NET Applications

As you move your web applications (such as SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk) to newer encryption protocols such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2, you will need to make sure the client applications are configured to use the latest version of TLS. Specifically applications using Microsoft .NET may not use the latest version by default.

Can we limit access to our Spira or KronoDesk Instance to Specific IP Addresses?

For additional security, customers may want to limit who can access their cloud instances of SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk to specific networks and IP addresses. This article describes why you would want to do this and how we support this.

Troubleshooting Emails Not Being Received from Spira or KronoDesk

Sometimes when you use Spira or KronoDesk and perform actions (e.g. assigning bugs, test cases, etc.) email notifications are not received correctly. This article provides some common reasons and solutions

Tuning SQL Server Databases using SQL Engine Tuning Advisor

The SQL Server Database Engine Tuning Advisor examines how queries are processed in the databases you specify, and then recommends how you can improve query processing performance by modifying database structures such as indexes, indexed views, and partitioning. This can be used by on-premise customers to improve the performance of their Spira and KronoDesk instances.

How to move a Spira or KronoDesk installation to another Server

Sometimes it is necessary to move a SpiraTeam, SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk installation to another server, without wanting to lose all of your data. This KB will guide you through the steps of transferring the install over, and optionally upgrading the application. This guide will walk you through the recommended steps when needing to move both the application and database to new servers.

Installing Spira or KronoDesk with a large SQL Server model database size

When you are installing SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, SpiraPlan or KronoDesk on a database server with a large 'model' database sometimes the install will fail because the initial Spira/KronoDesk database is not large enough to contain your model database. This article provides the solution

Extracting the tickets and attachments from a KronoDesk cloud instance

Sometimes customers want to download their list of tickets and file attachments. This article explains how to read the data that we provide.

Enable TLS 1.2 in Internet Explorer 8, 9 or 10

If you have disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 encryption protocols on your IIS web server, you may run into issues accessing the web interface of Spira or KronoDesk from older versions of Windows and/or IE.

How to migrate or downgrade a SQL Server database to a lower version

This post shows you how you can migrate or downgrade a SQL Server database from one version to a lower or earlier one. E.g. 2016 to 2014, 2014 to 2012, 2012 to 2008 etc. This can be useful if you maintain a heterogeneous environment of SQL Server instances and you have a backup from a newer version that needs to be hosted onto an older version. This happens to us quite a bit when customers installed a trial on SQL Server Express (latest version) and we need to host it on one our cloud servers.

Best Practices for Configuring Microsoft SQL Server for use with SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, and KronoDesk

When you install SpiraTest, SpiraTeam, SpiraPlan, or KronoDesk on premise, you have a choice in different ways to configure SQL Server. Every situation is different, but this article presents some recommendations.

Increasing the Maximum Upload File Size in IIS

By default, IIS web server allows for limited file size to be uploaded to the web server. For IIS 6 and IIS 7, the default maximum file upload size is 4 MB and 28.6 MB respectively. IIS 7 returns a 404 error (HTTP Error 404.13 - CONTENT_LENGTH_TOO_LARGE) if someone uploads something larger than 30MB. In order to allow for larger file size uploads, a few server changes are required.

Rebuilding the Database Indexes - Advanced Version

With the latest version of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam, we have provided a simple button in the Data Tools section that lets you rebuild the database indexes using the same script that we published in KB10. However sometimes the database is so large that the execution takes longer than the 30 minutes allowed by the application, or you want more control over the fragmentation levels that trigger a rebuild. This article provides guidance and a more advanced script for power users.

How to generate a HAR file in Chrome or Firefox

Sometimes, when troubleshooting complex issues with SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk, it's necessary for us to get some additional information to troubleshoot the issue further. For example, when we receive a report of performance trouble when using our cloud services, there are a lot of different factors that may contribute to the problem. To narrow down the cause of the performance problem, we need more data.

Spaces are being removed from Rich Text Editors in Chrome 54

When using rich text editors in SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk with Google Chrome 54, users are seeing spaces not being accepted.

This article is now obsolete.
All issues with rich text editors have been resolved.

Why are Months in Czech & Slovak Cultures Sometimes Shown in Roman Numerals

When running Spira or KronoDesk on certain versions of Windows, when using the Czech or Slovak culture settings (or using Server default when Windows is installed in those languages) you may get unusual formatted dates.

This article is obsolete.
There is a new Style Guide for Czech and Slovak - can be found here: https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/b/5/7b57e4a1-d299-4238-9997-f3ac51d6f763/ces-cze-StyleGuide.pdf

How to Import Data into KronoDesk from MS-Excel

This article describes the steps for importing data from an Excel spreadsheet into KronoDesk.
You can use this to import help desk tickets and notes.

SpiraTeam and KronoDesk have IDs that occasionally jump by 1,000

When using SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk with SQL Server 2012 or later, you may occasionally have a situation where the ID for an artifact (test cases, incident, ticket) suddenly jumps by exactly 1,000 values (e.g. from 214 to 1214 instead of just incrementing to 215).

Migrating from Cloud/Hosted Trial to On-Premise
We sometimes get customers that have signed up for a hosted/cloud trial of our products but want to migrate their trial data to an on-premise installation for production use (instead of just having us move it to our production cloud servers). This article outlines the process for such a migration.
Running Queries Using SQL Server Management Studio

During the course of investigating a technical support issue for SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk , the need may arise to run a query against your Microsoft SQL database. To do so, you will use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. If you did not install this when you installed SQL, you can install it from the original source.

Exporting Event Logs for Support

This article describes how to export server Event Logs when requested by support.

Configuring MS SQL Server for Remote Access

When connecting from Spira or Krono installed on a separate application server to a remote SQL server, you may have difficulties connecting. This article describes the steps for making sure that your SQL Server can be accessed remotely.

Some of my users are receiving 'Invalid Viewstate' errors. How do I resolve this?
Ask the user to clear out their browser's cache of cookies and stored internet pages/content. After they do this and then close and reopen their browser, the issue should be resolved.
After restoring a backup of my database, I keep getting unable to login to database errors?

This usually just means that the restored database just needs to be linked to the existing database server login. This can be done by executing the appropriate SQL command listed below:

How do I migrate data from a trial installation of Spira or KronoDesk to the production one?

This is a common need, since you may have installed SpiraTest, SpiraPlan,  SpiraTeam, or KronoDesk  on a workstation to evaluate its capabilities and now need to install it on a production server for real use, but you don't want to lose all your existing data.

Choosing a Database to Run SpiraTeam or KronoDesk On

This article answers some common questions about which databases you can run SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam and KronoDesk on, and where you can get them from.

Hosting Questions - SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam & KronoDesk

You already know the advantages of us hosting your application in our cloud:

  • Focus on managing your projects not hardware
  • Flexible pricing and contracts by # users
  • Backups and all maintenance handled by our staff
  • Globally accessible using just a web browser
  • Get up and running in minutes with no installations
  • Choice of hosting locations (USA, EU, Canada, India, Singapore, Australia)               

However you may have questions about our hosting service. This article provides important information about our cloud hosting services, including security, privacy and reliability information.

SpiraTeam & KronoDesk - Common Installation Questions

Our web-based products: SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam and KronoDesk make use of the Microsoft IIS web-server and Microsoft SQL Server database platforms.
This KB article explains some of the more common error messages that can occur after installing one of our products and the steps to remedy them.
Article was initially written specifically for versions v3.0 - v4.2 of Spira and versions v1.x of KronoDesk, but some of the issues applicable to the recent versions as well.

SpiraTeam and KronoDesk - Upgrade Questions

One of the benefits of using Inflectra software is that you get unlimited upgrades for the first year and as long as you maintain an active service plan. This articles describes the process for upgrading your installation of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk to the latest version. It also answers many common questions about the process.

How should I backup my installation of Spira or KronoDesk?

This article describes the process for backing up instances of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk (hosted on-premise). The example is written using SpiraTeam, but applies equally well to SpiraTest, SpiraPlan or KronoDesk, you just need to change the database name in the SQL files.

Common Email Sending Issues when using SpiraTeam or KronoDesk
It is a common need to be able to connect our products (SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam and KronoDesk) to a mail server. If we are hosting it in our cloud, then we take care of this for you, however if you are hosting it yourselves, you need to connect Spira or KronoDesk to an SMTP mailserver. This article provides answers to some common mail questions.
SpiraTeam and KronoDesk Javascript Not Loading Fully on Windows 8+

If you install SpiraTeam or KronoDesk on Windows 8 or later, you need to make sure that the various IIS Roles and Features are installed. If not, you may find that various Menus don't display correctly or that the pages do not display any data.
This article describes the features and roles that need to be included.

Performance issues with IE9 running apps under ASP.NET 4.5

If you face performance issues with Spira or KronoDesk when the users use Internet Explorer 9.0, there is a known issue in ASP.NET 4.5 that can cause the client to disconnect and all subsequent AJAX calls do not get processed. This article describes the symptoms and the solution.

This article is now obsolete.
Internet Explorer 9 is no longer supported by Spira or KronoDesk.

How to adjust the logging levels in Spira and KronoDesk

Sometimes to diagnose issues with SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk it is helpful to increase the logging level to log all trace activity in the system. This KB article describes how to enable this feature.

Hardening SSL on IIS 6 - IIS 7

If you are running a web application (such as SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk) on an IIS web server using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), you will want to harden the environment by removing the older versions of SSL and TLS that are no longer considered secure.

These steps apply to:

  • Windows Server 2003 R1 & R2
  • Windows Server 2008 R1 & R2

Usually Windows Server 2012 and later are already configured to be secure.

Spira or KronoDesk displays 404 page not found error on certain pages

If you have an installation of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk that displays a 404 page not found message on certain pages, it may be due to a configuration issue on the server preventing the URL rewriter from functioning correctly.

A DLL required for this install to complete could not be run

If you run one of our installation packages (.msi) and receive the following message:

A DLL required for this install to complete could not be run

Enabling Windows Installer (.msi) Trace Logging
Sometimes when installing our products you get error messages during the installation and it's necessary to provide Inflectra support personnel with detailed trace/logging information so that they can better support you. This article describes the steps necessary to enable Windows Installer (.msi) trace logging.
Ways to Optimize Spira and KronoDesk Performance

Sometimes we get help desk tickets from on-premise customers regarding the performance of our web-based applications (SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam and KronoDesk). Whilst every situation is different, this article provides some common best practices that should help having a high-performing system.

Issues using the KronoDesk and Spira Screenshot Java Applet

SpiraTest, SpiraPlan and SpiraTeam versions older than v4.1 and KronoDesk versions lower than v1.1.0.7 use a screenshot capture utility written using the Java development platform. This lets the web browser capture a screenshot and attach it to items in the system without having to first save the item. This article describes some issues using this applet and outlines the replacement plan we have implemented to use HTML5 instead of Java going forward.

User Avatars are not visible to Guests in KronoDesk v1.1

If KronoDesk v1.1 was installed or upgraded before Patch #5, guests (users that are not logged in) cannot view user avatars.

Fixing I/O request taking longer than 15 seconds SQL Server errors

If you ever see the following message in the Application Event Logs on your SQL Server database server:
SQL Server has encountered X occurrence(s) of I/O requests taking longer than 15 seconds to complete on file [Path to either your database's MDF or LDF files]
It can often mean that the Size/Shrink settings for the database files are not correct for the size of database. This articles suggestions some techniques for fixing this error message.

This article is obsolete.
The error was most common for SQL Server 2008/2008R2 editions and indicates SQL Server I/O Bottlenecks, as well as serious problems with your storage hardware you need to fix. These SQL Server editions are no longer supported.

Java Security Warning on appSupa when pasting screenshot attachment

When using some versions of Java with SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk you may get the following warning message when pasting in screenshots or images:

When I click to paste a screenshot attachment, get Java security warning (see screenshot) which says " Block potentially unsafe components from being run?  Application: appSupa  Java has discovered application components that could indicate a security concern. Contact the application vendor to ensure that it has not been tampered with" with options to Block and Unblock.   "The application contains both signed and unsigned code".

This article is obsolete, due to the fact Java has been disabled for most of the browsers.

SpiraTeam and KronoDesk Javascript Not Loading Fully on Windows Server 2012

If you install SpiraTeam or KronoDesk on Windows Server 2012, you need to make sure that the various IIS Roles and Features are installed. If not, you may find that various Menus don't display correctly or that the pages do not display any data. This article describes the features and roles that need to be included.

This article is obsolete. All the settings and prerequisites required for proper operation of the Spira instance can be found here in our documentation: https://spiradoc.inflectra.com/Spira-Administration-Guide/Installing-SpiraPlan/#system-prerequisites

The application doesn't display correctly after upgrading versions

Sometimes after your instance of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk is upgraded (or you upgrade an on-premise edition), the screen doesn't display correctly.

Application Dropdowns and Other Controls Not Displaying Correctly
When installing SpiraTest/Plan/Team or KronoDesk on a Windows 2008+ server, some of the controls or content in the application does not display correctly.
How to resolve PageHandlerFactory-Integrated Bad Module errors

This article describes how to resolve the following error message that can occur on new installations of SpiraTest, SpiraPlan, SpiraTeam or KronoDesk when ASP.NET is not correctly configured. This message typically only occurs on Windows Vista, Windows7 or Windows 2008 Server.

HTTP Error 500.21 - Internal Server Error
Handler "PageHandlerFactory-Integrated" has a bad module "ManagedPipelineHandler" in its module list.