Bloomer User Notes

Installing and Running a Bloomer Installation

Jack ParkLatest: 20100330

Project Home:http://code.google.com/p/bloomer/

A Federation of Bloomer Portals

GlobalFederationServer*

WikiWiki

Drupal

RTDelphiLFS

WikiWiki

Drupal

RTDelphiLFS

Colligence

CohereCohere

Wiki

LFS

Cohere

LFS = Local Federation Server

*Public Domain Digital Library—Topic Map

Terminology

• XML Config File– Located in /webapps/ROOT/WEB-INF/– core-portal-props.xml

• Server Config File– Located as /etc/jetty.xml

Outline• Installation– Federation Server– Wiki

• Administration– Federation Server– Wiki

• User Actions– Changing Password– Importing data

• Installing Cohere• Building TopicSpaces

Federation Server Installation

• User Database– Must install and configure this– Required for MediaWiki as well

• Server– Local Federation Server• Requires User Database• Creates own RDF knowledgebase

Federation User Database Installation• MySQL

– Version 5+– Configurations in the XML Config File

• Change <…> values to suit

• Boot MySQL– create database <userdatabasename>;– create user <databaseusername>;– grant all on <userdatabasename>.* to ‘<databaseusername’@’localhost’ identified by ‘<password>’;

<parameter name="MyDatabaseDriver" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver" /><parameter name="MyDatabaseURL" value="jdbc:mysql:///" /><parameter name="MyDatabaseUser" value = "<databaseusername>" /><parameter name="MyDatabasePwd" value = "<password>" /><parameter name="UserDatabaseURL" value="jdbc:mysql:///" /><parameter name="UserDatabase" value=“<userdatabasename>" />

Federation Server Installation• Step One: Download the tarball and open it or acquired directly

from Subversion. It forms its own directory structure.– Build TopicSpaces (see last slide)

• Step Two: Edit the XML Config File to suit• Step Three: Make any necessary edits to Server Config File

– May need port changed: defaults to 8080• Step Four: Create the database• Step Five: Deal with SSL keystore and certificate* (next slide)• Step Six: Boot the server with run.bat or run.sh• Login (typically http://localhost<port>/) with the

default admin name and password (from XML Config File)• Create users

* All communication that required authentication should go to https://<server>:8443/

SSL Keystore and Certificate

• Two approaches:– Simple/Testing

• For testing tool in <install>/etc with instructions

– Complex/Production• Choose a certificate supplier and follow their instructions

– Modify <install>/etc/jetty-ssl.xml according to the keystore and certificate created

– NOTE: Simple certificate is not recommended for production servers.

Admin—Global Federation

• Each Local Federation Server has a XML Config File setting for the URL of the Global Federation Server

• Resource includes login information*<parameter name="BackchannelBaseURL" value = "http://www.topicspaces.org:8080/" /><parameter name="BackchannelID" value = “<userid>" /><parameter name="BackchannelPwd" value = “<password>”/>

*Config files are not visible, but this is a developmental approach to persisting credentials for communicating over the backchannel.

Global Server must have a registered User that can authenticate with userid and password

Wiki Installation• A heuristic for installation– Install Apache server first– Install PHP which will then prompt to add to Apache– Install MediaWiki in <apache_home>/htdocs/

directory• MediaWiki– Follow MediaWiki installation instructions

• Extensions– Follow instructions that are supplied with each extension

• Database– Follow MediaWiki instructions which are similar to those

given for the Federation Server

Extensions• IBISMediaWiki– In Bloomer’s online Subversion (to be made a

downloadable tarball)• Semantic MediaWiki Extension

– http://semantic-mediawiki.org/wiki/Semantic_MediaWiki

• Halo Extension– http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Halo_Extension

• FCKeditor (rich text editor)– http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:FCKeditor_%28Official%29

• WikiTrust (watch for bugs)– http://wikitrust.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page

• Other extensions in Bloomer’s SubversionThis list subject to revision and additional detail over time

Federation Server Administration

• Actions presently implemented– User Management• Create users• Change user roles• Remove users

Administration Home Page

Available only to users authenticated with an Admin role

User Manager

• Clicking on New User opens a form for creating a user

• Clicking on any user in the list takes you to a form to change roles

Creating a New User

• A User Name is necessary for search-by-name actions

• Give a user a temporary password: users can change it later

• Select a user role from the pull-down

User’s Home Page

• User clicks on name next to the Logout link to be taken to this view.

• Future versions will add more features to a user’s home page

Other User Federation Server Actions

• User can import IBIS XML files in the Compendium XML format*

• User can import from three web services sources:– http:/del.icio.us/– http://diigo.com/– http://cohere.open.ac.uk/

*In early trials, we will leave this feature turned off, made available only to users with Admin credentials.

Webservices Importing

Enter appropriate login identifier and password, one source at a time.

Installing Cohere—1• Generalized Approach:

– Install in <apache_home>/htdocs/ alongside Mediawiki• e.g. <apache_home>/htdocs/cohere• Only content from Cohere distribution/cohere-website

– Edit config-sample.php config.php• $CFG->databaseuser• $CFG->databasepass• $CFG->databasename (e.g. ‘cohere’)

– Install the database (next slide)– Update some files to reflect the URL of the installation

• Refer to the file /cohere-website/urlConstants.php for instructions

– Restart Apache– NOTE: at the present time, the Firefox Plugin is not available for use

• Cohere is functional without it for the time being.• The plugin is being modified to be configurable for different installations

Installing Cohere—2 • Create a MySQL database as before– Create a user based on settings in config.php– Create a database based on settings in config.php– Grant user rights:

• grant all on <databasename>.* to ‘username’@’localhost’ identified by ‘password’;

– Preload the database*• use <databasename>• source db.sql• source update.sql• source default-data.sql

*For convenience, copy the three sql files to <mysql_home>/bin; otherwise modify the “source” command lines to point to the files

Building TopicSpaces• Requirements– Java 1.6 JDK– MySQL (per earlier database slides)– Apache Ant*

• Building– cd to TopicSpaces base directory where build.xml

exists– Type ant <enter>

• Building is automatic• A TopicSpaces.jar file is created in the web-inf/lib

directory

* http://ant.apache.org/