Remote Greenstone3

Remote Greenstone3

From GreenstoneWiki

Building Greenstone collections remotely on Greenstone3

Installation

This section describes how to install the remote building functionality on server and client.

Server

The server can be a Linux, Mac OS X or Windows machine. It must have the Java run-time installed (version 1.4 or newer).

To install the server-side functionality:

  1. Download Greenstone v3 and install it.
  2. Open the "greenstone3/packages/tomcat/conf/web.xml" file with a text editor, and then search for "CGI". Specify the full path of the Perl library of parameter "executable" of CGIServlet. On Linux, it may look like: 
    <init-param>
 <param-name>executable</param-name>
        <param-value>/usr/bin/perl</param-alue>
  </init-param>

    for Windows, it may look like: 

    <init-param>
<param-name>executable</param-name>
        <param-value>c:\\perl\\bin\\perl.exe</param-value>
</init-param>
    Check that Tomcat and Greenstone3 are working correctly by visiting 
    http://<your-machine-name>:<port>/greenstone3/library
    The port will be "8080", unless this is already in use.
  3. Edit the "greenstone3/web/WEB-INF/cgi/gsdl3site.cfg" file and set full paths of two home directories. On Linux, it may look like: 
    gsdl3srchome    /research/greenstone3
gsdlhome    /research/greenstone3/gs2build

    On Windows, it may look like: 

    gsdl3srchome    c:\\Program Files\\greenstone3
gsdlhome    c:\\Program Files\\greenstone3\\gs2build
  4. Edit the first line of the Greenstone3 "greenstone3/web/WEB-INF/cgi/gliserver4gs3.pl" file and specify the full path of the perl binary.
    On Unix it is likely to be: 
        #!/usr/bin/perl -w

    On Windows this will be (if installed in the default location): 

        #!C:\\Program Files\\Greenstone\\bin\\windows\\perl\\bin\\perl -w
  5. Visit 
    http://<your-machine-name>:<port>/greenstone3/cgi-bin/gliserver4gs3.pl?cmd=check-installation
    in a web browser. You should get a message saying "Java found" and "Installation OK!". If you get a message saying "Java failed", check that the Java run-time is installed and on the webserver's path. If you get a "500 Internal Server Error", check the error log of your webserver for the cause.
    Important: You cannot continue with these instructions until this is successful, as nothing will work without it!
  6. Make the Greenstone "collect" directory writeable by the webserver user.
    On Unix, use chmod.
    On Windows, run in a DOS prompt: 
        cacls "C:\\Program Files\\Greenstone3\\web\\sites\\localsite\\collect" /P Everyone:F
  7. Edit the Greenstone3 "greenstone3/web/interfaces/default/transform/home.xsl" file and uncomment the line below to display an authentication link on the home page. 
    <xsl:for-each select="service[@type='authen']">
      <li><a href="{$library_name}?a=g&rt=r&sa=authen&s={@name}&s1.aup=Login&s1.un=&s1.asn=">
<xsl:value-of select="displayItem[@name='name']"/></a><xsl:value-of select="displayItem[@name='description']"/></li>
</xsl:for-each>
  8. Add some user accounts by visiting the Greenstone home page and clicking the "Administration Page" button, then "add a new user". See the Authentication section below for more information.

If your end users will use the stand-alone GLI client, this is all that is required on the server, and you can skip the next section.

If your end users will be using the GLI applet, you also need to do the following four steps. These require the Java SDK -- if you don't already have this you can download it from here.

  1. In the Greenstone "gli" directory, run 
        keytool -genkey -alias privateKey -keystore appletstore -storepass greenstone
    Enter the appropriate details for your organization. When it asks to enter the key password for <privateKey>, choose your own password or hit Enter to use "greenstone".
  2. Run 
        jarsigner -keystore appletstore -signedjar SignedGatherer.jar GLI.jar privateKey
    When it prompts, enter the password you used above.
  3. Move the created SignedGatherer.jar file into the Greenstone "greenstone3/web/applet" directory.
  4. Edit the Greenstone3 "greenstone3/web/interfaces/default/transform/home.xsl" file and uncomment the line below to display a applet gli link on the home page:
    5. <a href="{$library_name}?a=p&sa=gli4gs3">The Librarian Interface</a>

Client

The clients can be Linux, Mac OS X or Windows machines. To use the stand-alone GLI client:

  1. Download gli-client-3.zip and unzip it.
  2. Run "client-gli4gs3.bat" (Windows) or "client-gli4gs3.sh" (Linux/Mac OS X). The first time you run the GLI client on a machine it will ask for the Greenstone3 library. It will be 
    http://<your-machine-name>:<port>/greenstone3
  3. If the URL of the Greenstone3 library is not given, it will ask for the Greenstone3 gliserver URL. The Greenstone3 gliserver URL will be 
    http://<your-machine-name>:<port>/greenstone3/cgi-bin/gliserver4gs3.pl

To use the GLI applet:

  1. Visit your Greenstone3 library homepage and click "The Librarian Interface", half-way down the page. The GLI applet will begin loading, and after a short wait a "Launch Greenstone Librarian Interface" button will become available. Click this to start using the GLI applet.

You can now use the GLI to edit collections on the server or create new collections. The first time a collection is opened on a particular machine the GLI will read the plugin and classifier information from the server (this may take a minute or two).

Notes

General

There can be a lot of data transferred between the client and the server. This can make using the client impractical if you don't have a high speed connection between it and the server.

Authentication

The existing Greenstone3 user account system is used for authentication. User information is stored in /etc/usersDB of each site, for example, the "web/sites/localsite/etc/usersDb" dirtory stores users' infomation at site "localsite" , and the Administration pages (linked from your Greenstone library homepage) are used for adding, editing and removing users.

Groups are used to control the actions that users are allowed to perform on collections. The group settings have changed for Greenstone v2.71, and you will need to edit your existing users if you are upgrading. The possible group settings are:

  • all-collections-editor: Users in this group can create new collections and edit all collections. (Equivalent to the "remote-superuser" group of Greenstone v2.70w and earlier).
  • personal-collections-editor: Users in this group can create and edit "personal" collections. Personal collections have the user's username at the start of the internal collection name, and are created when the "this is a personal collection" option is ticked in the GLI "New Collection" dialog.
  • <collection-name>-collection-editor: Users is this group can create and edit the "<collection-name>" collection. (Equivalent to the "<collection-name>-maintainer" group of Greenstone v2.70w and earlier).

For example, a user who needs to create and edit their own collections, and collaborate with others on a shared "papers" collection, should be in the "personal-collections-editor", and "papers-collection-editor" groups.

Note: After the greenstone3 environment has been set, use commands below to export the users table to text or import user records from a txt file.

  • Export a users table
    • java org.greenstone.gsdl3.util.usersDB2txt full_path_of_usersDB
  • Import user records from a text file to a users table
    • java org.greenstone.gsdl3.txt2usersDB full_path_of_the_text_file full_path_of_the_usersDB
  • config3Remote.xml stores configuration of the gli. On linux, it is located at:
    • ~/.gli

    On Windows, it is located at: 

    c:\\Documents and Settings\\username\\Application Data\\Greenstone\\GLI

    Check two arguments ("general.gliserver_url", "general.library_url") of the file if the remote gli couldn't connect to the server. They are like to be: 

     <Argument name="general.gliserver_url">http://localhost:8080/greenstone3/cgi-bin/gliserver4gs3.pl</Argument>
 <Argument name="general.library_url">http://localhost:8080/greenstone3</Argument>

Collection locking

Each collection may only be open by one person at a time, to prevent synchronization problems. When a request is sent to the server to perform an action on a collection, the server will check for a gli.lck file in the collection directory. This file contains the username of the person who has the collection locked. When the collection is closed, this lock file is deleted.

If the collection is locked by someone other than the person making the request, the action fails. This is reported to the user on the client side, and this user is given the option of "stealing" the lock. Generally this is not recommended, since work may be lost if multiple users are editing a collection at one time. Stealing the lock should only be done in the case where the GLI has exited abnormally and the lock file was not deleted, and only after consulting with the user who has the collection locked.

E-mail notifications

The server can be configured to e-mail the system administrator whenever a collection finishes building. To enable this, edit the Greenstone "cgi-bin/gliserver.pl" file and set "$mail_enabled" to "1", and "$mail_to_address", "$mail_from_address", and "$mail_smtp_server" appropriately.


Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing problems or error messages when using the client/server version of the GLI, please follow these steps:

  1. Make sure you are using the latest version of Greenstone and have downloaded any patches on this page.
  2. Record any popup GLI error messages, and the last action you performed.
  3. Check for Java exceptions. If you're using the client version of the GLI, these will appear in the black GLI window (Windows) or in the terminal where you ran the GLI (Unix). If you're using the applet version of the GLI, these will appear in the Java Console (available from one of your browser menus -- for Firefox you may have to download this extension).
  4. Check for errors at the bottom of the log files of your webserver. If you're using Apache (recommended), look in the "error_log" file in the Apache "logs" directory.
  5. If you are having problems with the applet version, please check if you have the same problems with the client version.
If you think you have found a bug, or still can't get this functionality working, send a message to the Greenstone Users mailing list. Please include the following information:
  • The operating system of the server machine
  • The version of Greenstone installed on the server machine
  • The version of Java installed on the server machine
  • The operating system of the client machine
  • Whether you are using the client or applet version of the GLI
  • The actions you performed leading up to where the error or problem occurs
  • The complete text of any popup GLI error messages, exceptions or errors in the webserver log file

</pre>