Experience with taking over the administration of websites for the ICOM transport group

Effective management of the website and employee portal of ICOM transport, a.s. on UMBRACO CMS – experience with website management takeover

For almost 30 years, the ICOM transport group has been one of the largest transport companies in the Czech Republic. It currently operates 800 buses, 250 truck sets, and employs 1,500 people.

The extensive website www.icomtransport.cz in several language versions for the presentation of the company and the employee portal www.modra-vlna.cz are operated on the UMBRACO content management system.

The advanced UMBRACO database content management system is the ideal solution for implementing these extensive web portals. It allows for easy configuration of access rights for editing, logging, and displaying content, and has excellent support for displaying content in different languages. Last but not least, it is more secure and less susceptible to cyber attacks than the most commonly used PHP technology.

However, the way the content management system was operated on a dedicated server and the regular monthly fees charged by the service company were a heavy burden on ICOM transport. ICOM transport approached HELIsmile s.r.o., which has long-term experience with operating the UMBRACO content management system. HELIsmile uses ASPone as its preferred web hosting service provider.

Analysis

After an initial cursory analysis, we proposed a new solution and implementation schedule. ICOM Transport liked the proposal. It was decided to replace the existing service partner for CMS UMBRACO and change the hosting service provider.

The transfer to new hosting was required due to unsatisfactory conditions. It was unnecessary to have two dedicated servers running the content management system. The website serves to present the company and does not contain any sensitive data. Server administration was also inefficient both from an economic point of view (monthly administration fees) and in terms of inflexibility of modifications.

The company's website is divided into two parts: https://www.icomtransport.cz/, which runs the ICOM transport company's own presentation, and https://modra-vlna.cz/, which is focused on the company's employees. The most frequently used parts are the news presentation and the letter section.

Both parts were operated on two dedicated servers and were connected by a single database. When we took on the project, we had a very limited understanding of the current solution. Based on the two domains, we assumed that we would be managing two separate UMBRACO applications. After delivering the applications and database from both servers, we discovered that it was in fact a single instance of UMBRACO with a single administration (ICOM transport), which was artificially divided into two applications only because of the modra-vlna.cz domain and was even operated on two servers connected by a single shared database. The modra-vlna application was actually just shadowing the second application on its domain.

We replaced this clumsy solution, designed by the existing service company, with a new system called "HELIsmile application with its own lightweight client" for displaying the "Modrá vlna" website.

The main advantage of this solution is lower hosting requirements. Thanks to the new solution, only one VIP hosting was set up with ASPone for the main application and a second, cheaper BASIC hosting, where a small application developed by us runs via a web API connected to the main UMBRACO application. This new "HELIsmile application" only redirects requests from the browser and translates the pages of the main application, which brings higher speed and also significant financial savings thanks to minimal web hosting requirements.

The new "HELIsmile application" is also advantageous for another reason. It is possible to manage and maintain only a single UMBRACO application.

Application transfer

The work procedure was agreed upon, and we were able to get started. The original assumption of "simply copying the applications to the new web hosting" did not come true. The existing service company delivered the source codes to us with a delay. In order to meet the agreed transfer deadline, we managed to decode the libraries of the delivered application through reverse engineering, modify the code, run the application in Visual Studio, and successfully launch it on a local computer. We then launched the presentation on temporary domains for testing. After testing stability, we proceeded with the final DNS transfer and secured an encrypted HTTPS connection for both websites. We set up redirection and optimized the modra-vlna application for maximum speed, which included minor adjustments and refactoring of the modra-vlna application.

One such "treat" was solving the problem with the availability of images on the modra-vlna website from the internal network of ICOM transport. The icomtransport.cz link did not work on the internal network. Only the link to the third-level domain www.icomtransport.cz worked. Both links worked on the internet, with and without www. We performed routing and modified all configuration files to www.icomtransport.cz, thereby eliminating the problem.

Beyond the scope of the order, we modified the modra-vlna application and created a log directory to store emails from users who write to "Modrá listárna" (Blue Mailbox).

In the following days, we checked that both web applications were working properly. Users tested their access and new passwords, entered their first news items, and tried to change the content of the website.

Conclusion

After a week, all the details were sorted out. The website runs more cheaply and, according to user feedback, faster than the original solution, which made us very happy.

The entire migration took place within ten days, despite the complex process involving unavailable source codes. Our new "light client" brings ICOM Transport higher performance and economic benefits, confirming the effectiveness of the newly implemented solution.

The result is a significant acceleration in page loading and a reduction in operating costs.