Welcome to Dualog Knowledge Base. What are you looking for?
Promoted articles
-
Dualog Portal - Getting Started
This article will provide step-by-step instructions on how to get started on Dualog Portal before accessing the available features.
- Register an account on Dualog Portal (For both existing and new customers)
- Request for an invitation to an organization.
- If there is/are existing members within the organization, they may send an invitation (Under Procedure for Owner)
- If there is/are no existing members within the organization, reach out to Dualog support at support@dualog.com with the registered email address or username.
- Accept the invitation (Under Procedure for invitee)
- You are all set to access the available features now!
Articles on the available features on Dualog Portal are available here, along with video tutorials here.
For official feedback submission, please log in to Dualog Portal and submit a form located at the bottom right.
MX and SPF records for Dualog Mail Defence
On this page, you will find the technical information required for email deliveries to our Dualog Mail Defence and to your vessels
- ROUTE YOUR DOMAIN TO DUALOG MAILDEFENCE
Important: when routing new domains to MailDefence, notify support@dualog.com in advance.
For domain(s) under your management (e.g. fleet.yourdomain.com), apply the following changes.
Shore to ship traffic routing - MX records
To route the traffic directed to your domain to Dualog MailDefence, change the MX record of your domain(s) to:
- mx1.dualog.com (preference 10)
Ship to shore traffic routing - SPF records
In order to allow our servers to send out email with your domain, add the following to the domain's SPF record:
For domain(s) hosted under dualog.net
No action will be required
Alerts - Configuration and settings
INTRODUCTION
The Dualog Alerts feature allows administrators to configure alerts for several Dualog services should specific errors or thresholds be encountered or reached. The alert notifications will be sent to all configured recipients.
Alerts configuration can be found at the bottom of the "Organisation" page.
The following will be demonstrated in this article:
- Overview of all configurable alerts
- Configuring an alert
- Adding of the recipient(s)
OVERVIEW OF ALERTS
- Antivirus
- Alert when a ship has an outdated Antivirus server.
- Configurable threshold: 1 - 30 days.
- Alert when a ship has outdated Antivirus clients.
- Configurable threshold: 1 - 30 days.
- ConnectionSuite
- Alert when Connection Suite has not connected to the Dualog Cloud for an extended period of time.
- Configurable threshold: 60 - 2880 minutes.
- Alert when there’s more than a predefined amount of crew signed on a ship.
- Configurable threshold: 1 - 200 minutes.
- DualogDrive
- Alert when Drive detects an issue.
- Configurable threshold: 15 - 2880 minutes.
-
- Alert when a transfer has taken too long to complete.
- Configurable threshold: 15 - 10080 minutes.
- DualogProtect
- Alert when a device is trying to contact a malware (Command&Control/C2) server - Enable/Disable.
- Email
- Alert when a ship does not have a recent IMAP server backup.
- Configurable threshold: 2 - 30 days.
- Link
- Alert when a Link Platform installation has been offline for an extended period of time.
- Configurable threshold: 15 - 2880 minutes.
CONFIGURATION OF ALERTS
- To enable an alert, first select its category from the list and a pop-up window will then appear where the applicable alerts and their parameters may be adjusted.
- Save Changes
When the configured threshold has exceeded for an active alert, an email will be sent to all alert recipients.
ADDING OF THE RECIPIENT(S)
- You may select "Add Alert Recipient" to add email recipients of your configured alerts as shown below:
- When the recipient(s) is/are added, they will receive an email to verify that they want to receive future Dualog Alerts.
- Proceed with the verification to receive the configured alerts.
Dualog Link Activation Codes - Getting Started
INTRODUCTION
The new Activation Code feature will aid you in automating and streamlining Dualog Link client registration on board your ships.
After adding a ship or office to an organization, users can now generate an activation code that can be used as a parameter to automatically register and activate a Dualog link client under the installation tab.
Using these codes, you can now deploy the Dualog Link Client on any ship or office using a single command line.
The client will then be visible on the Dualog Portal, linked to the cloud, and ready to be used in any of our Dualog Link services.
This guide will show you how to activate the Dualog Client on a single vessel/office.
This procedure can be repeated as many times as necessary.
REQUIREMENTS
GETTING STARTED
- Upon logging into the Dualog Apps portal, click on the hamburger menu located in the top left corner > Installations (Direct link here)
- Under Activation codes > click on "Create activation code".
- Under Locations, select the vessel that you would like to activate and register the Dualog Link Client through the drop-down options.
- Create code
- A 10-character alphanumeric string will be created (Not case-sensitive)
Note:
- By checking on "Allow multiple activations", the created code can be used for more than one Dualog Link Client activation.
- Pre-registered installation is used when activating installations without logging on to each computer. A pre-registered installation will be valid for 7 days after registration.
DELETION OF EXISTING ACTIVATION CODES
- Upon logging into the Dualog Apps portal, click on the hamburger menu located in the top left corner > Installations (Direct link here)
- Click on the activation that you would like to delete
- Click on the trash bin icon > Confirm
- The activation code is now deleted.
INSTALLATION AND ACTIVATION OF DUALOG LINK CLIENT
- For a manual standard installation, click here for more information.
- For a silent installation, click here for more information.
In case you have faced difficulties or have further inquiries on any of the above, get in touch with Dualog Support.
Dualog® Protect - Getting Started
INTRODUCTION
Dualog® Protect stops most malware, ransomware, trojan, and phishing attempts, ultimately blocking unsafe or suspicious internet resources before any harm is done by monitoring all activity at the DNS level.
This article will get you started with deploying Dualog® Protect on your fleet.
The service is easy to set up and configure to your requirements for what types of content you wish to block.
PREPARATION STEPS
You will need a couple of things in place before you get started with the installation of Dualog® Protect.
- You will need a valid account on apps.dualog.com
- Make sure all necessary IP and ports are whitelisted on your firewall(s)
- You have created at least one Dualog Protect policy to assign to your ships
- Download the latest installation file from https://apps.dualog.com/installations
- Disable any existing DNS service on the PC where Dualog Protect will be installed. Typical examples
- Any external DNS relay/forwarder
- If you are running Network Control, go to Connection Suite > Network Control > Configure Network Control > choose the ship.
- Make sure to disable DNS Relay and save.
INSTALLATION
Dualog® Protect can be installed on any client PC on board, as long as the system requirements are met. If you are running Active Directory on your ship, Dualog Protect cannot be installed on the Domain Controller as it would create a DNS loop.
Typically, you want to install Dualog Protect on a PC or server that is reachable from all onboard subnets that you wish to protect. If you are running Dualog Network Control, that PC is a good candidate to install Protect. If unsure about where to install it, get in touch with us. We will be happy to help.
The standard installation process is described here. Follow the procedure and, once completed, continue with the steps below to complete the deployment of Dualog Protect.
ASSIGN THE DUALOG PROTECT POLICY
You can now proceed to assign the ship to your Protect policy. Go to the Protect "Configuration" tab. Now click on “Assign” and make sure your ship is ticked for this policy.
DNS ROUTING
Dualog Protect is now active and ready to handle the DNS requests on board.
Make sure your WAN network adapter uses 127.0.0.1 as primary DNS.
Any client PC you wish to protect will need to have the Dualog Protect PC's IP address as their primary DNS server.
You can now go ahead and test Dualog Protect.
Dualog® Drive - Getting Started
INTRODUCTION
This article provides a step-by-step guide on getting started with Dualog® Drive and experiencing the benefits first-hand.
PREREQUISITES
- A valid Dualog portal account (Click here to sign up)
- An existing organization within the Dualog portal (You can create one upon successful registration of an account)
- One or more 'vessels' and 'office' in the portal to use for your testing
- One Windows PC per vessel and office to install on (Later versions of Windows 7 or newer)
- A modern web browser on the PCs to do the client registration
- A user in the Dualog Portal with access to your organization
- The following needs to be allowed by the firewall (if applicable)
-
- Destination: apps.dualog.com
- IP address: 93.188.232.76
- Port(s): 443, 4443
- Protocol: TCP/UDP
Click here for the complete details of Dualog® Drive's system requirements.
GETTING STARTED
-
1.1 - SETTING UP
Every Drive task needs two things: One or more vessels and an office.
- Expand the top left menu > Organisation
- Click on "Add Ship" under Ships > New Setup > Continue
- Fill in the necessary fields > Add Ship (Note: Depending on your preferences, this could be a test vessel or a live vessel)
- Click on "Add Office" under Offices > Enter office name > Add Office
If you wish for your office to be a SharePoint integration, click here to find out more.
-
1.2 - INSTALLATION
Dualog® Drive can be easily installed in 5 minutes using Dualog Client Installer.
This must be installed on the endpoint(s)/machine(s) with which you plan to test Dualog® Drive.
The installation is very straightforward and will take you through the following steps:
-
- Double click the installer to run the initial installation
- Pick only Drive when prompted to select products
- The local webpage will open to continue the installation. If it does not open, go to http://127.0.0.1:5000
- An automated connectivity test will run to ensure it can do all resolving
- Client registration
- You'll be prompted to log in with your portal user
- Select the vessel you wish to install the client under
- Give the client a name that has meaning to you, e.g. "Captain's PC"
More detailed installation instructions can be found here
Recommendation:
Before proceeding with further experimental tests, begin with a simple Move Task between the newly created vessel and office to learn more about the core concept of Dualog® Drive.
Feel free to play around with both types of Drive tasks to get a sense of the various options available, as well as a better understanding of the differences between what Move and Sync tasks have to offer.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
If you wish to lean back and watch a video, you can watch a good webinar on Dualog Drive here.
You can also read this great e-book on the top 5 use cases of Dualog Drive here.
[Introduction] Sharepoint Integration
INTRODUCTION
The Dualog Drive SharePoint integration enables the synchronization of data from SharePoint to Drive clients and from Drive clients to SharePoint. Later it will also support moving files between SharePoint and Drive Clients.
The SharePoint Integration will not offer two-way synchronization, and no direct connection would be established between Drive clients and Sharepoint.
Both the integration and interaction would only be made through the Dualog cloud.
The SharePoint integration will, when fully implemented, simplify the Drive architecture, as no physical Drive Client needs to be installed onshore.
HOW IT WORKS - OVERVIEW
By using SharePoint integration, Drive clients only need to be installed on ships. The Dualog Drive Cloud connects to SharePoint to either collect data for distribution to ships or deliver data received from ships.
Currently, SharePoint integration supports Sync-tasks. Move-tasks will be supported in Q3-2022.
It is important to notice that this integration is only for having such systems as source or destination - and will not include their full file sharing features.
Drive Cloud will replace the office client by scanning configured locations (Drives/folders) on SharePoint for updates, as well as distributing updates from ships to the configured destination on SharePoint.
CONFIGURATIONS
Configuring Drive to use SharePoint requires multiple steps:
- Azure Active Directory configuration
In Azure AD, you need to both find the required information and make config changes
- Set up SharePoint Integration
Multiple SharePoint integrations can be configured for your organization. These configurations can then be used to set up Drive to use SharePoint as a source for Sync tasks.
- Set up SharePoint Connection
Configure Dualog Drive to connect to your SharePoint. Required information is obtained/created in the previous section
- Select SharePoint Drive
Select which SharePoint Drive to use
- Configure Dualog Drive to use SharePoint
Configure Drive to use the configured Sharepoint integration as a source or destination for Sync tasks.
Latest Antivirus download links
On this page, you will find the latest download links for Antivirus and relevant files. Before installing, make sure all system requirements are met.
Click on the link related to the file you wish to download and select where you want to save the file on your PC.
Please follow the links for guides on how to install and uninstall Dualog Antivirus:
- Installation on Dualog Server
- Installation on Clients
- Uninstallation of Dualog Antivirus
- Uninstallation of Dualog Antivirus (With ESET removal tool)
Latest Connection Suite Download Links
INTRODUCTION
On this page, you will find the latest download links for Dualog Connection Suite. Click on the link related to the product you wish to download and select where you want to save the file on your PC.
The release notes are available here.
CONNECTION SUITE 3.11 FILES
Click here to download the unattended versions of the same installers.
OLDER VERSIONS
If you need an even older version of Dualog Connection Suite, please inquire Dualog Support at support@dualog.com.
System Requirements for Connection Suite
Dualog Connection Suite consists of a standard package plus optional extensions. This document describes the requirements of different configurations of Dualog Connection Suite, as well as software requirements/support. This document is valid from Dualog Connection Suite version 3.0 and onwards.
- CORE INSTALLATION HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
Please note that these requirements are a minimum.
IMPORTANT: If other applications are running on the same computer as Dualog Connection Suite, higher CPU, memory, and disk capacity apply.
The following requirements apply when running the Dualog Connection Suite Core service only:
| CPU |
Intel® Core™ i3 or equivalent |
| RAM |
Minimum 2 GB (recommended 4 GB) |
| DISK SPACE |
The installation itself takes approx. 50 GB. In addition data storage (e-mail, log files, File Transfer, database, etc) must be added. HQ graded server disks are highly recommended. |
| I/O |
Serial Ports, Network Adapters according to communication equipment requirements. |
When using the email services (Business Mail and Crew Mail), no further requirements apply to CPU and RAM, while disk requirements will increase. On average, the email services generates approx. 20 GB per year, while backup will add up this space multiplied by 4.
To avoid reduced throughput on internal traffic, a CPU with at least four cores is required. The following minimum HW recommendations apply:
| CPU |
Intel® Core™ i5-2300+ or equivalent |
| RAM |
4 GB |
| DISK SPACE |
Network Control stores data in the Oracle database, no specific HDD requirements |
| I/O |
A minimum of two network interfaces: one connecting the ship’s LAN and the other the communications equipment. |
- SUPPORTED OPERATING SYSTEMS
Dualog Connection Suite Services and Extensions can run on the following Microsoft Operating Systems:
| Operating System |
Connection Suite Supported |
| Windows 10 (64 bit) |
YES |
| Windows 2008 Server SP2 (32 bit + 64 bit) |
YES (*) |
| Windows 2012 Server (64 bit) |
YES (*) |
| Windows 2012 Server R2 (64 bit) |
YES (*)
KB2919355 and KB2919442 required
|
| Windows 2016 Server (64 bit) |
YES (*) |
| Windows 2019 Server (64 bit) |
YES (*)
Compatible only with Dualog Connection Suite 2.39 and above.
|
| Additional Required Software (included in the latest Dualog installer) |
| Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2015 Update 3 |
| .NET Framework 2.0, 3.0, 3.5, or 4 |
(*)We do not recommend Connection Suite installations on a Window Server that is also a domain controller.
In all server versions, we recommend that tests and pilots are done before a production rollout, as we are not able to guarantee that all architecture designs will provide the same results.
The user interface in Connection Suite is mainly a Non-Flash based webpage and can be accessed via any computer connected to the ship's LAN. The following browsers are tested and highly recommended.
| Microsoft Edge (Chromium) |
Latest version available |
| Mozilla Firefox |
Latest version available |
| Google Chrome |
Latest version available |
Important note: For user log-in and usage of the Internet, Quota Management, and CrewMail (Webmail), HTML5 is supported. Therefore, tablets and smartphones may be used by ship staff to access Connection Suite Services.
How to install Connection Suite
INTRODUCTION
This guide describes the necessary steps to install the latest version of Dualog Connection Suite. The PC where Dualog Connection Suite is going to be installed will be referred to as "Dualog PC".
REQUIREMENTS
INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
- Double click on the setup x86/x64 installer > Click "Yes"
- Click “Next” to proceed with the setup wizard > Agree to the terms of the agreement
- Browse and select the destination folder that the Dualog Connection Suite should be installed.
- Click "Next" > A popup window will appear and prompt that Port 80 is available for Dualog Web Server > Click "Yes" (In the unlikely event that port 80 is occupied by something else, choose port 81 and click on OK, then in the following window click on “Next”.)
- Browse and select the local directory that the MailStore folder should be installed > Click "Next"
- You will be now prompted to choose if you want to install Oracle XE as a part of the installation. (Make sure that the Archive Log checkbox is ticked and click on the Install button.)
- After the installation, click “Yes” or "No" (Required if Network Control is configured)
- Upon completion, click on “Next” and "OK" to initiate the Oracle XE installation.
ORACLE 11g EXPRESS EDITION INSTALLATION PROCEDURE
- On the InstallShield Wizard for Oracle Database 11g Express Edition welcome window, click Next.
- Click on “I accept the terms in the license agreement” and click on “Next”.
- Browse and select the destination folder where Oracle 11g will be installed > Click "Next".
- When prompted to enter and confirm a password for the database, please enter any desired password.
- Confirm the password, click “Next” and "Install" to proceed with the installation.
- After installation, the installer will configure and initialize the database. When you see the “Database Initialization OK” window, click on “Next”.
- You are now requested to insert the StartPack file. Click on the “…” button, navigate to where the StartPack file is located on your computer and click on Next.
- The installer will proceed to insert Start Pack and finalize the setup, which may take a few minutes.
- You may be prompted to allow the Apache service through the Windows Firewall. Select all options (Private networks and Public networks) and click on the “Allow access” button. Complete the installation.
- You will be asked if you want to reboot the PC now. Click on "Reboot Now".
After the PC has rebooted, test all Dualog functionalities (send and receive emails, test internet surfing, register crew onboard where applicable) and if you notice something out of ordinary, please contact your IT department or Dualog support @+47 7762 1911
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
If this is not a new installation of Connection Suite (Eg: Re-installation or server migration) and you possess an IMAP backup that needs to be restored for historic emails, please proceed with 
IMAP restoration.
If you are preparing a reinstallation, remember to perform an IMAP backup before uninstalling Connection Suite.
If you are planning to install the Dualog ESET Antivirus solution on the Dualog PC, you can proceed here, after the installation of the Dualog Connection Suite.
Basic Troubleshooting of Ship Connection Suite
INTRODUCTION
Connection Suite is a conglomerate of modules held together by a database running in the background. This database, known as Oracle, may stop working for a variety of reasons, such as unexpected server shutdowns, bad sectors on the hard drive, or program bugs. Most of the time, though, issues are caused by the database not running properly.
SYMPTOMS
The following steps will cover how to troubleshoot Oracle and bring it back to full working conditions when it becomes unresponsive. This is how to determine if Oracle is down:
- Check the status of the Dualog Connection Suite webpage. It might either NOT be visible at all, or the auto-filling of the username will not work.
- Check if the Oracle XE and Oracle TNS Listener services are started. Note: In many cases, the Oracle XE service might be running even though the database is down.
- Check if both Web4Sea services are started. Only one of them will run if Oracle is not running properly
If you are experiencing one or more of the above symptoms, the Oracle database is likely the cause of the disruption of the Connection Suite.
TROUBLESHOOTING
The first thing to do when troubleshooting Oracle is to restart the database. This can be achieved automatically by rebooting the Dualog PC, or manually by performing the following steps:
- Stop all Dualog Connection Suite services
- Stop the Oracle XE service
- Restart the Oracle TNS Listener service
- Start the Oracle XE service
- Start all Dualog Connection Suite services
If this does not resolve the issue, the database is likely to be corrupted in some way.
The next step will be to connect to the database to determine what is wrong. This will be carried out through the Windows Command Prompt.
- In CMD, type: sqlplus
- When prompted for a user, type: sys as sysdba
- When prompted for a password, type the password that has been chosen during the installation process, usually: oracle
Note: the password will not show while typing. Just type the password and hit Enter. If you do not know the password, contact Dualog Support for further assistance.
!!!IMPORTANT!!!
You are now connected to the Oracle database as the database administrator user. Only authorized personnel are advised to proceed with any change described below at their own risk. If in doubt, contact Dualog Support. It is vital that you do not enter any command without knowing exactly what you are doing, as there is no “safety net” in case you corrupt the database.
In such a scenario, a full reinstallation of the Dualog Connection Suite will be required.
The first task will be to restart the database. This is the easiest way to find out if there are errors related to the database. Enter the following commands:
shutdown immediate;
// Wait for the operation to complete
startup;
This sequence of commands will first shut down the database, and then start it up again. Oracle will give you one of these responses:
- "Database opened" - means there are no issues with the database, and the database has been successfully opened and is ready to be used.
- "Database mounted" - means that Oracle managed to mount the database but was not able to open it. There are therefore some issues preventing the database from opening.
- If Oracle only managed to mount the database, you will also likely be presented with an Oracle error message with the format “ORA-1111 <error text>”. Should this happen, please call Dualog Support.
MISCELLANEOUS DATABASE CORRUPTION ERRORS
The database can get corrupted in many ways, each returning a proprietary error code. If you experience a database corruption error string, access the oracle database through Sqlplus as shown before, then type as follows:
recover database;
Once this has finished, type:
alter database open;
If everything goes well, the database will open, and you should see a message stating “database opened”.
If the aforementioned commands did not resolve your Oracle issue, return to the command prompt window, and navigate to start -> all programs -> Dualog -> Connection Suite -> Support -> and run a program called “Restore XE DB”.
Alternatively, execute "XeRestore.bat" as an administrator via C:\dualog\connectionsuite
This will run an automated database sanity check that will identify and solve some of the most common Oracle issues. Once this process is completed, you will be prompted to press any key to continue. Press any key and then run Dualog Connection Suite and test if everything is in full working order.
"ORA-00257 ARCHIVER ERROR"
"ORA-03113 END-OF-FILE ON COMMUNICATION CHANNEL"
These error messages indicate that space allotted to the Oracle archive logs has reached its maximum size and the database is therefore not able to open anymore.
The solution is to increase the maximum allowed size for the archive logs.
Access the Oracle console as previously described and insert the following set of commands. You may immediately get an error reporting that you are unable to connect to the database. In this case, shut the command prompt down and log into sqlplus again, then follow the steps below.
Shutdown immediate;
Startup mount;
Show parameter db_recovery;
//Check what the limit is set to be (e.g. 30G)
Alter system set db_recovery_file_dest_size=60G scope=both;
//Ensure that the size (60G) specified in step 4 is greater than the size you found (30G) in step 3.a.
Alter database open;
Alternatively, if prompted to use resetlogs, type in: alter database open resetlogs;
Once done, the archive log size has been increased, and the database should open. At your earliest convenience, do contact Dualog Support and inform them that your Dualog Connection Suite has been affected by this particular issue. They will need to gain access to the Dualog server and take a closer look to ascertain the causes of this issue.
"ORA-12505 - TNS: LISTENER DOES NOT CURRENTLY KNOW OF SID GIVEN IN CONNECT DESCRIPTOR"
This error indicates that the TNS listener service is unable to locate the Oracle database, and as such, the database is not functioning.
First of all, make sure that the Oracle TNS Listener service is started.
If it is running, navigate to C:\dualog\connectionsuite\, run the program called ‘OraEnvSetter’ and choose the option to set the ORACLE_SID and ORACLE_HOME environment variables.
Once this has been done, stop and start the database as described at the beginning of this document, or reboot the server, then check if Connection Suite is working as intended.
