Web Help Desk
SolarWinds Web Help Desk. Common in schools that adopted it years ago and still run it as the institutional ticket system.
| Category | Ticketing |
| Authentication | API key |
| Reaches | Your Web Help Desk server, usually internal |
| Needs an agent | Yes, on managed hosting |
| Demo mode | No |
Capabilities
Section titled “Capabilities”ticket.create, ticket.get, ticket.close
Note there is no ticket.comment. Web Help Desk’s API surface here covers
creating, reading and closing.
This is a live integration, not an importer. It keeps the two systems in step from the day you enable it, and it does not reach backwards. The tickets already in Web Help Desk stay there. If you are replacing it rather than running alongside it, see moving in, and in particular historical tickets do not migrate.
The private network question
Section titled “The private network question”Web Help Desk is typically an appliance inside the school network.
Self-hosted on that network: reaches it directly.
Managed hosting: needs a connector agent.
Getting the API key
Section titled “Getting the API key”- Sign in to Web Help Desk as an administrator.
- Setup, Techs, Techs, and open the account you want the integration to act as. Create a dedicated one rather than using a person’s.
- On the account, enable API access and generate the API key.
- Copy it.
The key authenticates as that tech, so tickets Plugboard creates are attributed to them.
Configuring it in Plugboard
Section titled “Configuring it in Plugboard”Admin, Connectors, Web Help Desk, Configure.
Settings
Section titled “Settings”| Field | Value |
|---|---|
baseUrl |
Your Web Help Desk base URL, for example https://whd.school.edu |
Credentials
Section titled “Credentials”| Field | Value |
|---|---|
apiKey |
The API key |
Save and test.
Certificates
Section titled “Certificates”Web Help Desk appliances frequently run with a certificate from an internal CA, or with a self-signed one that expired some time in 2019 and that everybody clicks through.
The server running Plugboard, or the connector agent, has to trust that certificate. Install the CA certificate on that machine. Disabling verification is not offered: an integration that ignores certificate errors on an internal appliance is the path an attacker on the same network would use.
Running it alongside Plugboard
Section titled “Running it alongside Plugboard”Same advice as Zendesk: decide which system owns what.
- Plugboard owns device work: repairs, loans, assets.
- Web Help Desk owns general requests. Switch off
module.tickets. - Submissions create Web Help Desk tickets so the institutional record is complete.
Map statuses on the workflow page.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| Connection refused or a timeout | Internal appliance, and a managed deployment with no agent. Or a firewall between the server and it |
| Certificate error | The machine does not trust the appliance’s CA. Install the CA certificate |
401 |
Wrong API key, or API access is not enabled on that tech account |
403 |
The tech account lacks permission for the request type or location |
| Tickets create but never close | The account cannot close tickets in that request type |
Alternatives
Section titled “Alternatives”Zendesk, or the built-in ticket queue.