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HomeMy WebLinkAboutLegistar Technical Solutions Guide Legistar Technical Solutions Guide Legistar Technical Solutions Guide Legislative Management Granicus's Legislative Management Suite, powered by Legistar technology, allows government staff to easily manage the entire legislative process from start to finish. From drafting files, through assignment to various departments, to final approval, this suite is an automated solution designed to reduce workloads and create a more efficient method for managing decisions. The Legislative Management Suite has both user and web portal components. User components consist of a lightweight application that is installed on a Windows-based PC with internet access. The web portal can be accessed on the majority of devices with a web browser. Computer, Operating System, and Software Requirements The Legistar client will run on most modern PCs and supports Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)operating systems with Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher. We recommend that you exclude the Granicus application directory from on-demand scanning. By default, we install the app directory at C:\Granicus, but in rare cases it may also be found in other locations such as C:\Program Files\ Granicus, C:\Program Files\DayStar, or %appdata%. • Pentium 4 or faster PC Recommendations • 2GB Memory or greater • Ethernet Port for LAN Connectivity • Display set to 96dpi, Normal Fonts Legistar runs on any of the following operating Systems: • Windows XP • Windows Vista Operating System • Windows 7 • Windows 8 • Windows 10 ** 32 or 64-bit systems Installed Windows Components • Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 or higher A©2014 Granicus, Inc.All rights reserved. 1 Legistar Technical Solutions Guide Install one of the following versions: • Microsoft Word 2003 • Microsoft Word 2007 Required Software if using the MS Word Integration • Microsoft Word 2010 • Microsoft Word 365 • Microsoft Word 2013 ** 32 or 64-bit versions Required Software for Agenda Packet Generation • Adobe Acrobat Standard 6.0 or higher Installation Requirements The installer requires that the user running it has the ability to create a folder in C:\Granicus (this requires full control permissions). Legistar can be installed using either an EXE or an MSI installer. The MSI installation requires admin privileges. The software automatically checks for updates each time it starts. Network Requirements The agenda and minutes creation processes require Internet access to Granicus Cloud Services with the ability to make anonymous (unauthenticated) requests. These requests should not be filtered or blocked in any way. The following table describes the IP addresses, network ports, connection direction, and communication protocols used by the Legistar components. All traffic is considered outbound, with the connection being initiated by the local machine to remote machines. • 207.7.154.0/24 United States IP Address Ranges • 209.237.241.0/24 Canadian IP Address Range • 207.7.130.0/24 • leg istar.granicus.com DNS • leg istar1.granicus.com • leg istar2.granicus.com To Granicus Cloud Services for agenda and minutes creation: Outbound TCP Ports • Port 80 (HTTP) • Ports 30000, 30001, 40000, 40001, 50000, 50001 (TCP) A©2014 Granicus,Inc.All rights reserved. 2 Legistar Technical Solutions Guide Microsoft ISA Server Considerations If a Microsoft ISA Server is being used and is set up to require authentication when accessing the Internet, the following exceptions need to be made: • You need an exception in the Advanced Settings for proxy server for legistar.granicus.com, legistar1.granicus.com, legistar2.granicus.com, and the IP address ranges above • In MS ISA Server, add a rule in the "Firewall Policy"that allows "All Users" (this includes authenticated and unauthenticated users) access to leg istar.granicus.com, legistar1.granicus.com, legistar2.granicus.com, and the IP addresses listed above. • Bypass all proxy servers for Legistar.granicus.com, legistar1.granicus.com, and legistar2.granicus.com. Email Receiving and Spam Filter The Approval Tracking component of the Legislative Management system generates emails as the user, but originating from the Granicus IP Address Ranges 207.7.154.0/24 and 209.237.241.0/24 for the U.S. or 207.7.130.0/24 for Canada. The appropriate exceptions should be made to spam or content filters to whitelist the IP range which could block these messages. Web Portal Browser Requirements Access to the web portal is supported with the majority of recent browser releases including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari. No special browser extensions are required for full functionality. How does Legistar work? 1. The user launches Legistar to make an outbound request on port 80 to Granicus' web server. 2. Once it hits our Granicus web server, it tries to download application files. 3. The application files are downloaded to C:\Granicus\Legistar5\. 4. Once all the files have downloaded to their respective directories, the application opens and presents the user with the sign in page. 5. When the user attempts to sign in, the request is sent over our custom ports 30000 or 30001, depending on whether the user selected Local (this is TCP)or Remote (HTTP) on the sign in page. Please note that every time Legistar is launched, the application will complete a check against Granicus' cloud services and will download any files to replace outdated versions. If none are found, the application will refresh about 10% of the existing application files before the user is allowed to login. This behavior is normal and by design. Testing Legistar's Hosted Environment The requirements as noted in the previous pages include custom ports which must be validated against your environment. In order to do so, complete the following steps: 1. Sign in to the Legistar application (this verifies port 30000/30001). 2. Add an attachment to a legislative file (this verifies port 40000/40001). 3. Run a report (this verifies port 50000/50001). 4. Create an approval sequence and start it (this produces an email). A©2014 Granicus, Inc.All rights reserved. 3 Legistar Technical Solutions Guide Note: The validation of these custom ports can be accomplished by other means. For example, telnet to 207.7.154.11, which is a Granicus IP listening on all the required ports noted in this document. A©2014 Granicus, Inc.All rights reserved. 4