System requirements

This section lists what hardware and software is necessary for optimal performance of Sales-n-Stats.

As the Sales-n-Stats system consists of several components which may be located on different machines, we divided the system requirements into several groups corresponding to the specific components of Sales-n-Stats.

Data Collector hosting requirements

Make sure the web server your hosting company will use for the Data Collector has support for:

1.	PHP version 4.1 or later. For more info visit the PHP site at http://www.php.net

Note:

GDlib extension must be enabled.

2.	MySQL database server.

If the monitored website has a https version, it is recommended to install Data Collector using https, rather than http. Make sure your hosting has support for https client software. For example, LiteCommerce-based stores are able to use one of the following:
    CURL executable module,
    libCURL module, or
    OpenSSL external application;
    Net::SSLeay Perl extension for using OpenSSL (for X-Cart users)

Note:

If you use embedded collector, the https client software is not necessary.

A valid SSL certificate must be installed in the collector.

By default Sales-n-Stats uses an embedded database to store data. However for major web sites with heavy traffic the performance of embedded database may not be sufficient so you can alternatively use MySQL database server.

Ask your hosting administrator to create a MySQL database and to provide you with the following information:

1.	MySQL server name;

2.	database name;

3.	MySQL username and password.

Note:

CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE permissions should be granted to the MySQL user as well as the full data access.

In Sales-n-Stats Live edition, the requirements for Data Center and Operator Terminal are combined as both of them are run on the same machine. In Sales-n-Stats Enterprise edition these components are installed on separate computers, each of which has to meet the corresponding requirements.

Data Center requirements

Make sure the administrator's workstation meets the following requirements:

1.	Operating system - Windows 2000/XP/2003, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD or other Unix.

2.	It has at least 512 Mb RAM/1.5 GHz CPU, at least 200 Mb (300 Mb recommended) of free space on HDD.

On Unix and MacOS, check that Java Runtime Environment (JRE) version 1.5 or 1.6 is installed. It is much easier to use bundled JRE but if your Sales-n-Stats distribution does not have bundled JRE (which is the case with Unix and MacOS distributions) and you do not have it on your machine, download JRE from the Web: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/download.html (This page gives links for downloading J2SE™ JRE for various platforms).

Sales-n-Stats Data Center needs a database for its work and can be set up to use either the embedded Sales-n-Stats database or a MySQL database. Using MySQL has certain advantages over the embedded database, as MySQL demonstrates better performance and stores your data more safely. To use a MySQL database instead of the embedded one, you need to have MySQL on your local machine or in the local network. Data Center supports MySQL version 3.23 or later. Download MySQL for free from http://www.mysql.com.

Operator Terminal requirements

Make sure the workstation on which Operator Terminal is installed meets the following requirements:

1.	Operating system - Windows 2000/XP/2003, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD or other Unix.

3.	If you intend to use VoIP, an operator's computer needs to have a sound card, a microphone and speakers. You also need to have Skype software installed and a valid Skype account. Consult http://www.skype.com for details.

Technologies involved

•	Java (J2SE™) is used as a platform for Data Center and the Operator's Terminal.

•	Data is stored and processed with an SQL database.

•	Skype software is used as means of voice communication.

•	PHP ensures effective integration with a website.