<chapter id="faq">
<title>FAQ</title>
<qandaset>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
I installed the otrs.rpm from SuSE 8.0. But it doesn't work. Why?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
The default SuSE 8.0 rpm is buggy (which is not a SuSE mistake). Please visit our <ulink url="http://www.otrs.org/">website</ulink> and download the newest rpm. Your can install the rpm with YaST or manually
<programlisting>
rpm -Uvh otrs.rpm
</programlisting>
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
What ist OTRS?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
OTRS is a Ticket Request System with many features to manage customer telephone calls and e-mails.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
What stands OTRS for?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Open Trouble-Ticket Request System.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
What does OTRS cost?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Nothing, it`s <ulink url="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.txt">GPL</ulink>.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry id="faq-agent">
<question>
<para>
This document refers to agents. What is an agent in the context of OTRS?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
An Agent is a human being who works with the system. User would be an alternative term.
</para>
<para>
Geeks: Of course a script could act like an agent. Feel free to do so!
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How can I delete a user, who is no longer needed? (asked by Andreas Haase - Wed, 21 Aug 2002 11:17:01 +0200 (CEST))</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
OTRS is working with database id references. If you would delete a user      
(or queue, ...) from the database, your delete the reference info. Important
infos like owner or queue.
</para>
<para>
Set the data record to invalid and the record is still visible (e. g. for ticket
history, ...) but not activ for the application.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Can OTRS receive email?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, (with MIME support).
</para>
<para>
The $HOME/bin/PostMaster.pl program receive the emails and sorts the email to the right ticket or queue.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Can OTRS send email?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes. Autoresponders per queue or per X-Header and standard responders via mouse click.
</para>
<para>
Note: You can add/delete/modify the system email addresses at AdminView::System.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Fulltext Index Searching?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Is OTRS multi user and multi group able?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, of course. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Is it possible to use different domains?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, you can use different emails 'support@yourdomain.com', 'sales@yourdomain.com' and different
domains 'marketing@clientdomain.com' with one system!
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
Can I use OTRS only with SuSE Linux?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
No, but we developed it on a SuSE Linux and frankly we did not do much testing on a Redhat, Debian, ... 
</para>
<para>
But we will provide additional installation information on <ulink url="http://www.otrs.org/"><citetitle>http://www.otrs.org/</citetitle></ulink>. And we are more that happy to recieve some feedback from you about how you installed OTRS on other platforms.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>What software will be needed?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Minimum: <ulink url="http://www.perl.com/">Perl5</ulink> (with a few <ulink url="http://www.cpan.org/">CPAN</ulink> modules, more: INSTALL),  <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com">MySQL</ulink> and <ulink url="http://www.apache.org">Apache</ulink>. 
</para>
<para>
But again, your are on the safe side by using SuSE Linux. It will provide you with all the needed stuff.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How stable is OTRS?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Please be aware of the fact that you are dealing with a beta-version. New versions are anounced on <ulink url="http://www.otrs.org/"><citetitle>http://www.otrs.org/</citetitle></ulink>. But never the less it is quite a stable system and you shouldn't run in any trouble. But we can not guarantee it!
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>What hardware do I need?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
We suggest an IBM s390. *SCNR* ;-)
</para>
<para>
Some of our test enviroments are Pentium II 300 with 64 MB RAM and they do a pretty good job. Of course the more RAM and the faster the CPU the better. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How does OTRS scale and how big can it become?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
This is depending on the hardware and the enviroment you are using. At the moment OTRS is a one box system. With little work you can set up a webserver-cluster and you can split the database to a seperate box. We are planing to support some sort of clustering mechanism. But this is not the highest priority for the development.
</para>
<para>
There are OTRS installations which handle 20,000 tickets (e-mails) a day and don't show any sign of stress. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Can I use my nice Oracle or DB2?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
At the moment we only support <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com">MySQL</ulink> as the default database. Frankly we do trust in a <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com">MySQL</ulink> as much as in a DB2 (for this application). Anybody who is willing to spend some time to port it to other databases is more than welcome to the OTRS team!
</para>
<para>
Note: The code is designed to support different databases! 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Which programming language is used?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
<ulink url="http://www.perl.com/">Perl</ulink> OO, SQL and dtl. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>What is the default admin account?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
User: root@localhost Password: root 
</para>
<para>
Of course it is a very good idea to change this default password!
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Works OTRS with <ulink url="http://perl.apache.org//">mod_perl</ulink>?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Of course. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Is it possible to customize OTRS?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Of course. You can customize OTRS like you want. Take advantage of the dtl (dynamic template language) to customize the OTRS frontend release independently (more: README.dtl)! 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Can I install OTRS on a Windows box?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Theoraticly yes, but we are not the big windows gurus and haven't ever tried to set up a Windows box with an <ulink url="http://www.apache.org">Apache</ulink>, <ulink url="http://www.perl.com">Perl</ulink> and <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com">MySQL</ulink>. In case you tried it send us an e-mail.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How can I become a part of the OTRS developer comunity?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Welcome! Anybody who is willing to help us and has the time is more than welcome. Please send us an e-mail.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>I do like the OTRS but would feel more comfortable by using a commercial product.</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
We can not help you. Sorry.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>What browser do I need?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
OTRS is working with the most browser such lynx, w3m, Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, IE and Konqueror  
(You don't need Java Script or Java Applets!).
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Is it possible to generate my own ticket number format?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes it's possible. You can choose between four different OTRS formats.  
AutoIncrement ("SystemID.Counter" e. g.  1010138 or 1010139), 
Date ("Year.Month.Day.SystemID.Counter" e. g. 200206231010138 or 200206231010139),  
Random ("SystemID.Random" e. g. 100057866352 or 103745394596) and my favorite one 
DateChecksum ("Year.Month.Day.SystemID.Counter.CheckSum" e. g. 2002070110101520 and 2002070110101535). 
</para>
<para>
Further it's possible to create a own ticket number format (like you want). See the OTRS documentation. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Do you support the RFC 1297?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, OTRS supports this RFC.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Can I add my own ticket states?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, but be carefully with the existing states (OTRS needs basic states). 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>More then one OTRS on one machine?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
Yes, you can do that. Just install the second, third, ... in different paths (
e.g. /opt/otrs01, /opt/otrs02, /opt/otrs03, ...). And configure the webserver 
like README.webserver.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

</qandaset>
</chapter>
