Get Started with Server Administration

Where to start

Institutions that have just installed Blackboard Learn should become familiar with the environment before making it available to users. After installation, read the available Blackboard Learn documentation and then develop and revise a plan for managing the system. Consider:

• Authentication: Should users login to Blackboard Learn using a unique user name and password or should users authenticate once on the network and then have seamless access to Blackboard Learn? To learn more about how to integrate Blackboard Learn with an authentication system already on campus (such as LDAP or Active Directory), see Authentication.

• Security: Should user communications with Blackboard Learn be protected by TLS? Will users suffer slower performance because of TLS? Read the section on TLS to encrypt user communications with Blackboard Learn.

• Maintenance: Read the Architecture section for guidance on server maintenance. This section also reviews the file system and database structure and the command line tools available to administrators.

Other resources for administrators

It is important that administrators read the release notes and review the Known Issues and Resolved Issues.

For information about optimizing Blackboard Learn to perform best in a particular environment, see Performance Optimization.

PushConfigUpdates

The PushConfigUpdates command automatically updates the admin data in the database by reading the value in the config.xml. It automatically pushes the changes of the database hostname and port, instance name, and externally visible web server hostname to the database.

When the PushConfigUpdates command is complete, it will not display whether or not dynamic compression is enabled on your IIS installation. Verify this setting in IIS 6.0 by visiting Configure Compression in IIS 6.0 using Windows 2003 or in IIS 7.0 by visiting Configure Compression in IIS 7.0 using Windows 2008.

To learn more about PushConfigUpdates, see PushConfigUpdates.