Set up your own SMARTRIQS server

Before you begin setting up a custom server, please consider using the default SMARTRIQS server. A custom server has several disadvantages: it takes time and effort to set up, maintaining it will cost you money, and you will have to update the source code manually if there is a new update or a bug fix. The only real advantage of having a custom server is that it allows the collection and storage of sensitive data (e.g., personal identifiers), which is prohibited when using the default SMARTRIQS server (see the Data Submission Policy Agreement). So unless you do not intend to collect such sensitive data, it is strongly recommended to use the default SMARTRIQS server.

This tutorial will show you how to set up an an SSL-encrypted PHP web-server from scratch (Part I), and then how to set up SMARTRIQS on this custom server (Part II). If you already have access to a server that can run PHP scripts and is SSL-encrypted (for example, your lab has a server), go to Part II.

Part I

If you have decided to set up a custom SMARTRIQS server, and you don’t have a server yet, there are two ways to do it, depending on whether you prefer 1) a quick and easy (but relatively expensive), or 2) a cost-efficient (but more difficult) method.

1) The quick but expensive way

The main advantages of this method are that it is much quicker and easier than the other method: you don’t have know anything about the technical details of web hosting. The main disadvantages are that it’s certainly more expensive and there is less room for customization.

STEP 1. Choose a web hosting service that offers PHP hosting and free SSL encryption (most of them do). Here is a list of popular and reliable web hosting services.

STEP 2. After you selected a web hosting service, register a new domain and server. Most of the web hosting companies offer very quick setup (usually less than 5 minutes), and have 24/7 customer support in case if you need any help in setting up your server.

STEP 3. Log in to your server. After registration, you will receive information about how to log in and how to use your newly created server. As these sites have a very user-friendly control panel, you will be able to log in to and manage your server from your browser, you don’t have to download or install any software.

You are done — proceed to Part II.

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2) The cost-efficient but more difficult way

The main advantages of this method are that it is much cheaper than the other method, and you will have full control over your server and customize it however you want. The main disadvantages are that you have to be comfortable with some web hosting concepts (SSH, DNS, shell, etc.).

This tutorial shows how to set up a PHP server using Amazon Web Services (AWS). AWS is a very cost-efficient and scalable solution for virtually any service that you might want to implement online, including websites, servers, computing, or storage.

STEP 1. Create an account at AWS.

STEP 2. Log in to the AWS console and register a new domain using Route 53. Usually it takes about 10-15 minutes until your new domain is activated.

STEP 3. Launch a new instance using EC2. The free-tier eligible “Amazon Linux 2 AMI” instance should be sufficient, SMARTRIQS does not need more computing power than that. Do not click on ‘Review and launch’, rather select ‘Next: configure instance details’. You can keep all the default settings in steps 3-5. Step 6 will ask you to define the ‘security group’. If this is the first time you are using AWS, you will have to create a new security group (otherwise, you can select an existing security group). By default, you will see only one rule: SSH. To create a security group, you will have to add two additional rules: HTTP and HTTPS. To add these, click on ‘add rule’, select HTTP, and then select ‘anywhere’ for source. Then click on ‘add rule’ again, select HTTPS, and then select ‘anywhere’ for source. Then click ‘Review and launch’ and ‘Launch’.

STEP 4. Assign an elastic IP address to your instance using EC2/Elastic IPs.

STEP 5. Once you have obtained an elastic IP address, you can SSH to your server. I recommend using WinSCP. To be able to SSH to your server, you might have to convert the private key using PuTTYgen. Here is a detailed guide that explains all the necessary steps.

STEP 6. Install a PHP on your server. Follow these instructions. Make sure to add ec2-user to the PHP administrator user group (more details here, go to “To set file permissions”).

STEP 7. Associate your server with your domain you created in STEP 2. See instructions.

STEP 8. Add SSL-encryption to your server: follow these instructions. If you have any issues when activating certbot, see this post.

Congratulations! If you have completed all 8 steps successfully, you have a working PHP server associated with a custom domain that is SSL-encrypted. To test your server, enter the domain name in your browser: https://www.yourdomain.com. It should display something like this.

Proceed to Part II.

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Part II

For this part we assume that you already have a custom domain and a working PHP server that is SSL-encrypted.

STEP 1. Download the six server-side PHP scripts from GitHub.

STEP 2. Upload the six server-side PHP scripts to your server. You can copy these files into any folder, but make sure that they are all in the same folder. For example, a convenient way is to create a new folder named ‘smartriqs’ in the root directory of your server, so that it will have the following address: https://www.yourdomain.com/smartriqs.

STEP 3. Create one or more folders for researchers within the smartriqs folder. The names of these folders will be the researcherID of the researchers. For example, if you create two folders named ‘researcher1’ and ‘researcher2’ in the smartriqs directory (https://www.yourdomain.com/smartriqs/researcher1 and https://www.yourdomain.com/smartriqs/researcher2), the two corresponding researcherIDs will be ‘researcher1’ and ‘researcher2’.

STEP 4. Import the survey templates to your Qualtrics account. In each of your studies that use your custom server, you have to add a new embedded data to the top of the Survey Flow: serverURL. The value of this embedded data should be the URL address of the folder on your server that contains the PHP scripts and the researchers’ folders.

For example,: serverURL = https://www.yourdomain.com/smartriqs

STEP 5. Define the researcher ID and study name in the Survey Flow.

You are done! You can already run interactive studies and collect data.