Autoconfig can only be accessed directly on the server that hosts iCM. Most of the options are set when iCM is first installed and are managed by our hosting automation tools. This legacy documentation is here for information only.
Autoconfig holds global and background configuration for iCM. Some of these settings can also be changed using the system configuration section of the iCM management menu. If you have the diagnostics privilege enabled, you can download your current autoconfig settings via Application Settings.
To commit any changes you make in autoconfig, you must navigate through to the final page and click the "Finish" button. Changes are lost if you navigate backwards. For example, changing settings on page 3, returning to page 2, then forwards again to page 3, will reload page 3 without your changes.
In clustered environments autoconfig should be run on every server where iCM is installed so that changes are consistently applied to each.
API Server Configuration
After making changes in autoconfig it is generally worth resending the configuration to your API Servers. Environmental information, like mail servers, is sent to an API Server from the settings in autoconfig as part of sending configuration to the server.
Autoconfig Login
Only one user exists for autoconfig, which is unique, created at the time iCM is installed, and not maintained within iCM.
Once you've successfully logged in, you'll see the autoconfig welcome screen. Each page then has the following properties.
Start
| Application name | A unique name for this iCM installation. Automatically set to "website" by iCM versions 10.1.0.5+. |
|---|---|
| Application type | The technology your website is using |
| Serial number | The unique software serial number, issued by GOSS Interactive, that allows iCM to run |
| Datasource name | The name of the iCM datasource. Automatically set to "icm" by iCM versions 10.1.0.5+. |
| Database type | The database type. Automatically detected and set by iCM versions 10.1.0.5+. |
Website Connection Settings
| iCM URL | The full enterprise level URL of iCM (eg http://www.website.co.uk/enterprise/icm). You may include a port number (eg http://www.website.co.uk:85/enterprise/icm) |
|---|---|
| Direct iCM URL | Use this URL to access iCM directly (bypassing the webserver). It should include the port number 5506 (eg http://localhost:5506/icm). This setting is optional |
| Website URL | This is the full URL of the primary website iCM is managing. You can also include the port number if required (eg http://www.website.co.uk:85). iCM uses this URL to access the website |
| Website port | Enter the HTTP port used to access the website. Normally this is set to port 80. The port number should also be included in the website URL and the object caching URL (Advanced Settings below) if required. iCM uses this port to access the website when previewing articles |
| Website username | If the website is protected by a server username and password you need to enter them in these fields. This is so iCM can pass these parameters through to access the site. If you are using NT security, you may need to include the name of the workgroup in front of the username, like this: workgroup/username |
| Website password | |
| Confirm password |
Website Settings
| Cache directory | Enter the absolute directory path where the website cache files will be stored (typically E:\inetpub\[sitename]\content\cache/ |
|---|---|
| Media directory | Enter the absolute directory path where the website media files will be stored (typically E:\inetpub\[sitename]\content\media/ |
| iCM path | Specify a path that references the iCM root ('icm') directory. This path will be used by the iCM API to access files located within the iCM directories. Typically this will just be /icm/ |
| Email recipient for website errors | Should iCM encounter any errors when communicating with the site (eg attempting to clear the cache) an error email will be sent to this address |
| API facade URL | An external application may need to make http requests to the ColdFusion API provided with iCM. Specify the URL of the cfapifacade.cfm file in the <webapp> directory. This is typically http://[servername]:5506/cfapifacade.cfm |
| Initialisation code | This section is for adding application variables or other CFML initialisation code that is specific to your particular website installation |
General Settings
| Retain version history | To enable iCMs version history for content items, check this box. These settings provide default version policies for articles, end points, forms, links and media items. You can set up additional policies in iCM settings using Version Control Policies |
|---|---|
| Number of versions | This is the default minimum number of versions of a content item to keep in the version history. Additional versions will be removed, provided that their removal will not violate the retention requirement below. |
| Retention period | This is the default maximum amount of time to keep a version of a content item in the version history. Versions older than this will be removed, provided that their removal will not violate the number of versions requirement above |
| Use network authentication | Check this box to enable network authentication for your iCM users. See the iCM Single Sign-On article for more information |
| Mail server | The mailserver that iCM can use |
| iCM sender email address | This is the "from" address that iCM will use when it generates an email |
| Email recipient for task status messages | This is where iCM will send status and/or error messages generated by the scheduled tasks (for example, when an archiving task cannot be performed for some reason) |
| Email recipient for support requests | This is where iCM will send support request emails (from the iCM homepage action) |
| Email recipient for feedback | This is where iCM will send feedback emails. Use feedback@gossinteractive.com to send them to GOSS |
| Email recipient for iCM errors | This is where iCM will send iCM error notification emails. Use icm.errors.v10@gossinteractive.com to send the emails to GOSS. We don't recommend you change this |
| Display debug information | Controls the display of ColdFusion errors. If checked, users will see information about the error, if not, then the error information is emailed to the Email recipient for iCM errors |
| SOLR URLs | These are the URLs of the SOLR search instances the site and iCM uses, automatically installed with iCM. The standard URLs are http://localhost:5506/solrsite and http://localhost:5506/solricm |
| API Server URL | This is the URL used to access iCM's local API Server. The standard value is http://127.0.0.1:5706 |
| Public API Server Path | Path of the publicly accessible API Server which will be appended onto the iCM URL. The default is /icm/apiserver |
| Skeleton Processor worker path | The default is /skelproc |
| Forms Service worker path | The default is /formsservice |
| File Store worker path | The default is /filestore |
| System maintenance countdown emails | These time periods iCM will use to send out system maintenance emails when iCM is taken offline, typically 30, 20 and 10 minutes. These emails are sent in addition to any defined in the System Online/Offline settings |
| Custom directory ColdFusion path | Specify a path that references the iCM 'custom' directory, typically /icm/custom/ This path will be used by ColdFusion to access files located within the iCM custom directory. It will need to make use of a ColdFusion CFIDE Mapping in case the custom modules reside outside of the icm directory. In clustered installations with multiple servers the custom directory should be shared by, and accessible to, all iCM servers |
| Custom directory file path | The fully-qualified file system path to the iCM 'custom' directory. Typically E:\iCM10\tomcat\webapps\ROOT\icm/custom/ |
| File manager roots | Specify directories that contain files you'd like to edit using the iCM file manager. This must be a fully-qualified file system path. Multiple directories may be specified by clicking the add button. Normally this will only include the custom directory file path |
| User editable file extensions | Specify the file types that can be edited in the file manager (in addition to the defaults already listed) |
iCM Preferences
| iCM users category level | Set how iCM users are displayed within the iCM Groups/Users tree If 'None' is selected, then no categories will be displayed; if 'Initial character' is selected, then the users will be organised into folders taken from the first character of each user's name |
|---|---|
| Website users category level | Set how the website users are displayed within the Site Groups/Users tree |
| Stale content warning period | The number of hours before an article or a media item is due for an update that the owner will be notified. See Content Settings |
| Stale content escalation delay | The number of hours after an article becomes due for an update that email reminders about updates being required are redirected to the editors/publishers of that article |
| Default article update due | The default "Update Due" interval that starts counting down when an article is created or edited |
| Default media update due | The default "Update Due" interval that starts counting down when a media item is created or edited |
| Image resizing JPEG quality | The quality factor used when automatically generating resized images, specified as a percentage. Set this at 100% |
| Strip metadata from images | Check this box to remove any metadata embedded in image files (by digital cameras or photo editing software) when they are imported into iCM. We recommend this is checked |
| Preserve top-level articles | Check this to prevent articles that are at the top level of the article tree from being deleted. This will also prevent top-level articles from being manually created |
| Maximum article depth | The maximum number of levels of child articles (top level articles counted as 1) that can be created in the article tree |
| List page length | How many lines will appear on pages in iCM that display lists, eg the list of scheduled tasks or items in the security log. This odes not affect the recently modified items list or other lists on the homepage |
| Article preview modes | A comma-delimited list of the default preview modes to be made available to iCM articles. Each preview mode entry within the list should contain the mode name, associated custom module file name, and a short description, each separated by semi-colon eg PDA;pdamode;PDA mode,WEB;webmode;WEB mode. The custom module's file name should not include path or extension information; the /preview path and .cfm extension are assumed. These default modes may be overridden by settings in the iCM Templates section. Note that these defaults will not be used by subsites as these will have their own defaults defined within the iCM Subsites section. You can leave this blank and preview will work just fine |
| Users should specify security questions | Uncheck this box to disable the warning prompting iCM users to set up security questions if they haven't. See Security Questions and Forgotten Passwords |
| Article tree sorting | This controls how articles will be ordered in the article tree. Each setting will be used in order, an can be set either as Ascending (in Alphabetical or Numerical order etc), or Descending |
| Allow manual override of article tree sorting | Check this to allow users to explicitly specify the ordering of articles using the "Ordering" tab in the article editor |
Additional Preferences
| Generate suggestions using iSuggester | If this option is checked, suggestions will be generated using iSuggester where possible (reverting to the original suggester if iSuggester has no suggestions) |
|---|---|
| Train iSuggester using related articles | If this option is checked, iSuggester will be trained using the related articles of any article that is updated |
| Train iSuggester using related metadata (for articles, media) | If either or both of these options are checked, iSuggester will be trained using the related metadata of any article or media item that is updated |
| The following settings configure the Directory Cleanup scheduled task which deletes temporary files. The most recently modified files are retained. This may not correspond with the file creation date. | |
| Directory | Enter a directory path to search for temporary files. Paths must be absolute or relative from the site root. Dotted paths are not permitted. A relative path is indicated by an initial directory name |
| Pattern | Enter a file pattern with optional wildcards, * and ? |
| Minimum Files | Cleanup will never reduce the number of selected files below this minimum value |
| Maximum Size | Cleanup will delete older files until the total size is less than this number of bytes or the minimum number of files has been reached |
| Add Cleanup Task | Add the task defined in the fields above to the cleanup task table. If a task is being edited then it may be modified and added (instead of saved) to copy it with changes |
| Save Cleanup Task | If a task has been edited, this button will save it back to the same row in the table |
| Cleanup Task Table | Shows all currently defined cleanup tasks. Tasks may be deleted or edited using the buttons provided |
Scheduled Tasks and External Link Proxy
| Scheduling lead time | iCM will not allow you to schedule a task to run sooner that now+Scheduling lead time. 15 minutes is recommended |
|---|---|
| Proxy name/port | If a proxy server is being used, the scheduled task that tests external links will need to know its host name (or IP address) and port number so that it can successfully execute its checks. Please specify both if applicable |
| Proxy username/password | If a proxy server is being used it may require user credentials before it will relay requests. If so, enter a username and password that are accepted by the proxy here |
HTML Editor Settings
Word documents can be uploaded into the HTML editor. Images contained in these documents are automatically imported as media items into the iCM Media Library. These settings can be overridden at subsite and template levels.
| Media type for imported images | The ID of the media type that images in imported Word documents should be created as |
|---|---|
| Media group for imported images | The ID of the media group that images in imported Word documents should be imported into |
| Import images as | Whether images in imported Word documents should be attached to the article as related media or inserted into the article as inline media |
| Inline type for imported images | When importing images as inline media, specify the ID of the inline type that should be used |
| Placeholder for imported images | When importing images as related media, specify the text, if any, that should be inserted within the article to mark the original location of the imported images |
| Link group for imported links | The link group that will hold any links imported from a document. We recommend creating a dedicated group called "imported links" |
| WYSIWYG markers inserted by | When WYSIWYG editing is allowed, iCM needs to know whether it is the template code or the API that should insert the content markers that indicate where editable content occurs within the WYSIWYG Editor. Select the relevant entry from the drop-down list. |
| Stylesheet | The stylesheet to be used by the editor. This should be its path relative to the site's root WEB directory. For example, css/citizen/cseditor.css. Sites using our standard themes and frameworks should use /defaultarticletext.css |
Background Task Settings
The gateway task processes the messages used to manage synchronisation between the database, page cache, search engine, and any other servers there may be if your site is running in a clustered environment. See iCM/API Servers for a full description.
The article replacement task is responsible for updating articles when a different version is due to be published.
| Site name | icm |
|---|---|
| Scheduled task name | Name of the scheduled task that will perform the Gateway message processing. The default is GatewayTaskicm |
| Operation mode | Either "Normal" or "Debug" (leave it as normal) |
| Schedule interval | This is the frequency, in seconds, with which the Gateway message processing task will be executed. Large values will result in delays before new content can be located in searches. Small values will increase the server load. The default is 15 |
| Maximum processing time | This is the maximum amount of time, in seconds, that the Gateway message processor will be allowed to spend processing messages each time the scheduled task is executed. This cannot exceed 75% of the schedule interval. For most systems a value of around 20% of the schedule interval will be sufficient. the default is 5 |
| Article replacement task | |
| Scheduled task name | Name of the scheduled task that will perform the article replacement. The default is ArticleTaskwebsite |
| Schedule interval | This is the frequency, in seconds, with which the article replacement task will be executed. 60 is usually sufficient |
| Short-cut App Polling | |
| Poll interval | This is the interval, in seconds, between attempts to determine the status of each installed App |
Advanced Settings
| Enable article editor script protection | Script protection should be enabled for the article editor as an additional safe-guard against cross-site scripting attacks. If, however, there is a need to be able to include elements like script or iframe tags embedded within the article editor's 'Show HTML' view then this protection will need disabling |
|---|---|
| Object caching pages | Comma-delimited set of URLs of scripts to be run when iCM Object Types are added or amended. This will vary depending on the technology your site is using. Include the port number where required (eg http://www.website.co.uk:85/cacheadmin.jsp). This setting is not used in modern sites that use data caching |
| Form caching pages | Comma-delimited set of URLs of scripts to be run when iCM Forms are added or amended. This will vary depending on the technology your site is using. This setting is not used in modern sites that use data caching |
| Subsite isolation | Whether subsites are isolated or can share content and be edited from the URL of another subsite |
| Subsite extra configuration form | The name of a private form used by the "Configuration" tab in subsites. This is usually SUBSITEEXTRAS |
| User profile configuration form | The name of a private form used within iCM to manage user profiles. In our newer sites this is ICMUSERPROFILE, which has FORM_USERPROFILE as its external type |
| User profile email address element | The name of a property in a user profile object that holds an email address. This is EMAIL in most sites |
| User profile preferred username element | The name of a property in a user profile object that holds a user's preferred name. This is PREFNAME in most sites |
| Purge completed process instances after | When running the "Purge completed processes" scheduled task, closed instances older than this number of days will be deleted |
| Scheduled task server | When the web servers are clustered it is important that only one of the servers in the cluster is used to perform scheduled tasks. This ensures that regardless of which server receives a request to modify a schedule, the requested change will be implemented correctly. In order to do this, each server needs to know which machine will actually run the scheduled tasks so that update requests can be routed appropriately. Enter a comma-delimited list of URLs for the server that will run the scheduled tasks, including the protocol and a port number where required. The URL(s) should point to the website root for the iCM installation and should include all possible aliases for the machine that user's might use. For example, the host name and it's IP address should both be represented if users might use either of these to access iCM in order to set up scheduled tasks, (eg http://www.website.co.uk:85,http://10.11.12.13:85) |
| iCM user password complexity rules | The rules iCM users will have to follow when creating or updating passwords. Changes to these rules will force iCM users to change their passwords the next time they log in |
| Website user password complexity rules | The rules website users will have to follow when setting their passwords |
| Cache type | All of our modern frameworks use Data caching. If you have defined delivery servers in iCM/API Servers select "use delivery servers". Otherwise use the "explicit URLs" option |
| Cache manager URLs | In a standard installation this will be http://[siteURL]/site/admin/cache/decache. These only need to be set if you select "explicit URLs" above |
| Cache notify content types | A comma separated list of the content types to decache. The full standard list is: article,event,externallinks,featuregroup,forum,groups,media,metadatagroup, metadataproperties,metadatavalues,polls,publicformdefinitionex,subsite, subsitealias,templates |
| Remote web cache password | The password that allows iCM access to the remote website cache (if needed) |
| The optional settings for the iCM webserver Username/Password are required when iCM is protected by a webserver Username and Password. This is so scheduled iCM tasks (housekeeping, mailings, etc) can be run by the webserver. If the website is protected and iCM is not, then these optional settings should be left blank. | |
| iCM Webserver Username and Password | The webserver username and password that iCM will use to access the protected directory. If you are using NT security, you may need to include the name of the Workgroup in front of the username, like this: workgroup/username |
| Lock restricted content | Enabled by default. This prevents the editing of restricted content like the form family. If you uncheck this box because you need to import a form family you should run autoconfig again once you have performed the import to turn the lock back on |
| iCM file security | Protect iCM files from direct execution. The iCM file security checkbox should only be cleared when specifically instructed by GOSS support. Turning off iCM file security may allow attackers to expose private data by executing some of iCM's internal components |
| iCM database tidy | When iCM detects a fresh installation it will recommend that a limited amount of database tidying be performed. A newly specified valid serial number is used to identify a fresh installation, and this option will automatically be selected if this is detected. The tidying will currently deregister iCM servers, clear down all gateway messages, and reset the installation task list, thus safeguarding against the presence of data that is unrelated to the new installation |
Last modified on 25 January 2024
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