OTRS

OTRS
	OTRS: Agent Dashboard
Original author(s)	Martin Edenhofer
Developer(s)	OTRS AG
Initial release	2001; 21 years ago
Stable release	8
Repository	github.com/OTRS/otrs ;
Written in	Perl/JavaScript
Platform	Multi-platform
Type	Service Management, Help Desk
License	proprietary; until version 6.0: GPL
Website	otrs.com

OTRS (originally Open-Source Ticket Request System) is a service management suite. The suite contains an agent portal, admin dashboard and customer portal. In the agent portal, teams process tickets and requests from customers (internal or external). There are various ways in which this information, as well as customer and related data can be viewed. As the name implies, the admin dashboard allows system administrators to manage the system: Options are many, but include roles and groups, process automation, channel integration, and CMDB/database options. The third component, the customer portal, is much like a customizable webpage where information can be shared with customers and requests can be tracked on the customer side.

History[]

In 2001, OTRS began as an open source help desk ticketing software.

In 2003, OTRS GmbH was formed and a professional company entered the EMEA market. This was followed in 2006 by entry into the North American market.

In 2007, the company was renamed to OTRS AG with the intention of going public, which it did in 2009. This is the same year in which OTRS was brought to Latin America with the Mexican subsidiary officially being founded in 2010. Entry into the APAC region occurred in 2011.

In 2015, a new version of the software, known as OTRS Business Solution, was launched. This commercial version was designed for professional users who needed additional support, configuration and features.

Also in 2015, STORM powered by OTRS was launched.

In 2018, both OTRS-specific products were renamed: The open source version became ((OTRS)) Community Edition. The commercial and managed version is named OTRS. A third offering is called OTRS On-Premise for professional customers who intend to host the platform in their own data centers.

In December 2020, OTRS AG announced the end of life of support for the Community Edition which led to several forks.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

OTRS Group[]

OTRS GmbH was originally founded in 2003 by André Mindermann (CEO) and Burchard Steinbild (Chairman of the Supervisory Board). In 2007, the company became OTRS Group, also known as OTRS AG. In addition to the two, today's management board includes Christopher Kuhn (COO), Sabine Riedel (Board Member, Marketing, HR), Gabriele Brauer (VP Finance) and Manuel Hecht (VP Global Software Development).

OTRS AG is the source code owner of OTRS.

The OTRS Group has its headquarters in Germany. There are six subsidiaries worldwide, including OTRS Inc. (USA), OTRS S.A. de C.V. (Mexico), OTRS ASIA Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), OTRS Asia Ltd. (Hong Kong), OTRS Do Brasil Soluções Ltda. (Brazil), and OTRS Magyarország Kft. (Hungary).

OTRS AG is listed in the Basic Board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

Additional OTRS-related products[]

OTRS is very often used independently, but it is also the foundation of two other solutions.

STORM powered by OTRS is a SOAR that is used by CERTS, SOCs and PSIRTS. It uses the OTRS service management suite as its backbone, but incorporates security-relevant processes and information.

CONTROL powered by OTRS is an ISMS. It configures OTRS in such a way that it can track and document ISO 27001, TISAX and other controls for compliance teams.

OTOBO is an Open Source Help-Desk based on OTRS.

Technical notes[]

Since its beginnings OTRS has been implemented in the programming language Perl. The web interface is made user-friendly by using JavaScript (which can be switched off for security reasons). The OTRS web interface uses the Template::Toolkit rendering engine to dynamically generate the HTML output of individual frontend modules. This approach allows the underlying logic of the OTRS frontend modules (written in Perl) to remain separate from the presentation of each module's user interface (served as HTML to the user).

Originally, OTRS supported only the use of a MySQL RDBMS for use as the webserver database. Support has since been added for PostgreSQL, Oracle, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and MariaDB (a community-developed fork of MySQL). OTRS may be used on many UNIX or UNIX-like platforms (e.g. Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, etc.) as well as on Microsoft Windows.

The scalability of OTRS systems may be increased by using mod_perl for the Apache Webserver or by separating the database and web server systems, allowing a large number of simultaneously working agents and high volumes of tickets.

In UNIX and UNIX-like environments OTRS can make use of system programs such as the mail transfer agent Postfix to provide email functionality but this should only be considered in limited circumstances in which the possible pitfalls are clearly understood and deemed inconsequential such as cases where there exists limited or no internal corporate email infrastructure. If possible it is always advisable to integrate OTRS with an enterprise's existing email architecture which requires close coordination and planning with the responsible IT representatives. If for some reason implementation constraints make this impossible, you must at the very least request action taken by your organization's DNS provider to configure a DNS 'A' record for the target host which validates the host as an authoritative domain server. A less desirable option, (and more likely to cause issues) would be configuring a DMARC record that allows an exception in normal conformance standards for emails sent from your server, but any far-end (receiving) email server may still bounce the incoming traffic depending on the server configuration.

References[]

^ Schürmann, Tim (April 2011). "Die freien Ticketsysteme RT und OTRS" [The free ticksystems RT and OTRS]. Linux-magazine (in German). 4. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
^ "OTRS Group".
^ "Attention! Security risk with OTRS 6!". OTRS. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
^ Heinemann, Markus. "OTRS Community Edition lebt als Fork weiter » ADMIN-Magazin". ADMIN-Magazin (in German). Retrieved 30 March 2021.
^ "Why we forked | Znuny - The ((OTRS)) Community Edition Fork". Znuny. Retrieved 30 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ "OTOBO Launch | Fork zur ((OTRS)) Community Edition". OTOBO. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links[]

[DE-Linux-mag-1] Schürmann, Tim (April 2011). "Die freien Ticketsysteme RT und OTRS" [The free ticksystems RT and OTRS]. Linux-magazine (in German). 4. Retrieved 30 May 2019.

[2] "OTRS Group".

[3] "Attention! Security risk with OTRS 6!". OTRS. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2021.

[4] Heinemann, Markus. "OTRS Community Edition lebt als Fork weiter » ADMIN-Magazin". ADMIN-Magazin (in German). Retrieved 30 March 2021.

[5] "Why we forked | Znuny - The ((OTRS)) Community Edition Fork". Znuny. Retrieved 30 December 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[6] "OTOBO Launch | Fork zur ((OTRS)) Community Edition". OTOBO. 13 July 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

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