cms/documentation/gettingstarted.xhtml

<!--#include virtual="/doctype.inc" -->
  <head>
    <title>
      Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System
    </title>
<!--#include virtual="/style.inc" -->
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="container">
      <div id="main">
<!--#include virtual="/header.inc" -->
        <div id="contents">
          <h1 class="top">
            Getting Started
          </h1>
          <h2>
            Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System
          </h2>
          <h3>
            1. Installing the corba services (pre-requisite for the
            server)
          </h3>
          <p>
            The server requires a CORBA Naming Service to run. It may
            be that you already have such a system running, in which
            case you can use that. Simply edit the jacorb.properties
            file to point to your Naming service. If you don't have a
            naming service running you could just set up your own
            manually, but if like us you want the easy approach,
            install our corba services program.
          </p>
          <p>
            This program runs the naming service and provides a builtin
            webserver to serve requests to the server application. The
            documentation details how to get this running. It should
            simply be a case of extracting and running.
          </p>
          <h3>
            1. Installing the server
          </h3>
          <p>
            The first stage is to download and install the server
            application. The latest version of the CMS application
            can be found in the <code>cms</code> directory of our
            <a href="/mirrors.xhtml">download mirrors</a>.
          </p>
          <p>
            Once downloaded, the archive should be extracted to a
            directory of your choice. The server will run on most Java
            enabled platforms (including Windows, Linux and FreeBSD).
          </p>
          <p>
            The archive consists of only a few files and directories.
            The main file is the iscream-server.jar archive which
            contains all the binary code for the server. The lib
            directory contains other JAR archives which the server
            requires to run. The etc directory contains (or will
            contain) configuration for most of the i-scream central
            monitoring system. The next step is to configure the server
            to suit your requirements.
          </p>
          <h3>
            2. Configuring the server
          </h3>
          <p>
            The configuration is split into two main files. The first,
            default.properties can be considered a bootstrap
            configuration. This means that it provides basic
            configuration to get the server started, after which point
            the main configuration system takes over. This file should
            be checked through, and is pretty well explained by
            comments.
          </p>
          <p>
            The rest of the server configuration is based on
            system.conf. This can hold the entire system configuration,
            including hosts. It may also specify other configuration
            files to be included in the main configuration. This file
            is also commented extensively.
          </p>
          <p>
            This step may well take some time to get right, and you can
            come back to it at any point. Lots of the configuration can
            be changed "on the fly" as well.
          </p>
          <p>
            For fuller and complete details of the configuration
            system, and the server in general, please see the Server
            User Guide in the documentation section of the website.
          </p>
          <h3>
            2a. Setting up the database
          </h3>
          <p>
            The i-scream central monitoring system can make use of a
            database for generating historical reports. The
            documentation explains how you would configure the system
            to do this. You will need to create a single basic table
            yourself, this is also explained in the documentation.
          </p>
          <h3>
            3. Starting the server
          </h3>
          <p>
            Starting up the server is a trivial task. Usually you can
            just get away with running the run script provided. This
            will boot the server up displaying some basic information
            to the console. If something goes wrong, the error message
            should point to the cause.
          </p>
          <h3>
            4. Setting up hosts
          </h3>
          <p>
            Hosts can be run on either Unix (tested with Solaris,
            FreeBSD and some Linux distributions) or Windows. Both are
            equally easy to setup.
          </p>
          <p>
            Firstly, the Unix host is called "ihost". This can be
            downloaded from the i-scream website. Once extracted it
            just needs to be started up. You need two pieces of
            information to do this: the filtermanager (part of the
            server) host and port number. If you haven't changed much
            in terms of configuration this will be the machine the
            server is running on, and port 4567. To start ihost you
            simply type:
          </p>
          <pre>
ihost.pl server.domain.com port
</pre>
          <p>
            ihost will then contact the server to obtain it's
            configuration and start sending information.
          </p>
          <p>
            The windows host, winhost, is very similar. All you need to
            do is install it using the provided installer in the
            download, and then edit the ini file to provide the two
            bits of information above. Running the application starts
            up communication with the server and data sending
            commences.
          </p>
          <p>
            Full details of both of these hosts can be found in the
            relevant documentation on the website.
          </p>
          <h3>
            5. Using Conient
          </h3>
          <p>
            Conient allows you to view, in real time, the data being
            sent by the hosts. This is a perfect way to test that all
            the above steps have successfully been completed.
          </p>
          <p>
            At present Conient is simply another archive which can be
            extracted and run. However, in the near future we hope to
            have an installer to make life easier. Conient is a Java
            application and will run on most Java enabled platforms.
          </p>
          <p>
            After extracting, the run script can be used to start
            Conient, or in some cases the JAR file can be executed
            manually. The GUI will then load. The configuration section
            requires you to enter a host and port for the server. By
            default this will be the machine on which the server is
            running and port 4510. Conient will then connect upon
            request and start displaying information.
          </p>
          <p>
            Assuming data is displayed you have successfully setup the
            i-scream central monitoring system. Well done!
          </p>
          <p>
            This is explained in much more detail in the Conient
            documentation.
          </p>
          <h3>
            6. Setting up DBReporter
          </h3>
          <p>
            If you are making use of a database you can setup the
            DBReporter to generate web-based reports of the information
            collected. This is just a case of extracting the archive to
            a suitable location, configuring it, and setting it to run
            on a regular basis (we suggest daily). DBReporter will also
            ensure the database is kept relatively clean.
          </p>
          <p>
            Full instructions are available in the DBReporter
            documentation.
          </p>
          <h3>
            7. Setting up the Web Interface
          </h3>
          <p>
            The Web interface allows you to view various aspects of the
            i-scream central monitoring system's output. These include
            realtime viewing of data (much like Conient), links to the
            DBReporter above, and full displaying of the alerts that
            can be generated by the server.
          </p>
          <p>
            The archive contains a series of PHP scripts which should
            be placed on your PHP enabled web server. The configuration
            files allow you to tailor the setup to suit your needs.
          </p>
          <p>
            Full instructions are available in the relevant
            documentation.
          </p>
          <h3>
            8. Further
          </h3>
          <p>
            You may decide to expand your setup to cover a larger
            network. For example, a distributed filter arrangement
            could cut down on the amount of traffic being sent around
            the network. The server itself can be distributed to suit
            your needs. You may wish to run the database section of the
            server on the same machine as the database, while running
            the rest on another machine.
          </p>
          <p>
            Some discussion about this is available in the server
            documentation.
          </p>
          <p>
            If you have any questions about any of the above, please
            don't hesitate to contact us on our mailing lists.
            If you find we've missed something out, again, please let
            us know.
          </p>
          <p>
            Finally, we'd like to thank you for trying this i-scream
            product. We realise that it's still at an early stage, and
            we therefore appreciate you taking the time to try it out.
          </p>
          <p>
            The i-scream team.
          </p>
        </div>
<!--#include virtual="/footer.inc" -->
      </div>
<!--#include virtual="/menu.inc" -->
    </div>
  </body>
</html>
Revision:	1.14
Committed:	Fri Jun 21 16:50:18 2013 UTC (11 years, 5 months ago) by tdb
Branch:	MAIN
CVS Tags:	HEAD
Changes since 1.13:	+1 -2 lines
Log Message:	Various website updates. The main change is the removal of RT email addresses.
#	User	Rev	Content
1	tdb	1.8	<!--#include virtual="/doctype.inc" -->
2	tdb	1.9	<head>
3			<title>
4			Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System
5			</title>
6	tdb	1.7	<!--#include virtual="/style.inc" -->
7	tdb	1.9	</head>
8			<body>
9			<div id="container">
10			<div id="main">
11	tdb	1.7	<!--#include virtual="/header.inc" -->
12	tdb	1.9	<div id="contents">
13			<h1 class="top">
14			Getting Started
15			</h1>
16			<h2>
17			Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System
18			</h2>
19			<h3>
20			1. Installing the corba services (pre-requisite for the
21			server)
22			</h3>
23			<p>
24			The server requires a CORBA Naming Service to run. It may
25			be that you already have such a system running, in which
26			case you can use that. Simply edit the jacorb.properties
27			file to point to your Naming service. If you don't have a
28			naming service running you could just set up your own
29			manually, but if like us you want the easy approach,
30			install our corba services program.
31			</p>
32			<p>
33			This program runs the naming service and provides a builtin
34			webserver to serve requests to the server application. The
35			documentation details how to get this running. It should
36			simply be a case of extracting and running.
37			</p>
38			<h3>
39			1. Installing the server
40			</h3>
41			<p>
42			The first stage is to download and install the server
43	tdb	1.11	application. The latest version of the CMS application
44			can be found in the <code>cms</code> directory of our
45			<a href="/mirrors.xhtml">download mirrors</a>.
46	tdb	1.12	</p>
47	tdb	1.9	<p>
48			Once downloaded, the archive should be extracted to a
49			directory of your choice. The server will run on most Java
50			enabled platforms (including Windows, Linux and FreeBSD).
51			</p>
52			<p>
53			The archive consists of only a few files and directories.
54			The main file is the iscream-server.jar archive which
55			contains all the binary code for the server. The lib
56			directory contains other JAR archives which the server
57			requires to run. The etc directory contains (or will
58			contain) configuration for most of the i-scream central
59			monitoring system. The next step is to configure the server
60			to suit your requirements.
61			</p>
62			<h3>
63			2. Configuring the server
64			</h3>
65			<p>
66			The configuration is split into two main files. The first,
67			default.properties can be considered a bootstrap
68			configuration. This means that it provides basic
69			configuration to get the server started, after which point
70			the main configuration system takes over. This file should
71			be checked through, and is pretty well explained by
72			comments.
73			</p>
74			<p>
75			The rest of the server configuration is based on
76			system.conf. This can hold the entire system configuration,
77			including hosts. It may also specify other configuration
78			files to be included in the main configuration. This file
79			is also commented extensively.
80			</p>
81			<p>
82			This step may well take some time to get right, and you can
83			come back to it at any point. Lots of the configuration can
84			be changed "on the fly" as well.
85			</p>
86			<p>
87			For fuller and complete details of the configuration
88			system, and the server in general, please see the Server
89			User Guide in the documentation section of the website.
90			</p>
91			<h3>
92			2a. Setting up the database
93			</h3>
94			<p>
95			The i-scream central monitoring system can make use of a
96			database for generating historical reports. The
97			documentation explains how you would configure the system
98			to do this. You will need to create a single basic table
99			yourself, this is also explained in the documentation.
100			</p>
101			<h3>
102			3. Starting the server
103			</h3>
104			<p>
105			Starting up the server is a trivial task. Usually you can
106			just get away with running the run script provided. This
107			will boot the server up displaying some basic information
108			to the console. If something goes wrong, the error message
109			should point to the cause.
110			</p>
111			<h3>
112			4. Setting up hosts
113			</h3>
114			<p>
115			Hosts can be run on either Unix (tested with Solaris,
116			FreeBSD and some Linux distributions) or Windows. Both are
117			equally easy to setup.
118			</p>
119			<p>
120			Firstly, the Unix host is called "ihost". This can be
121			downloaded from the i-scream website. Once extracted it
122			just needs to be started up. You need two pieces of
123			information to do this: the filtermanager (part of the
124			server) host and port number. If you haven't changed much
125			in terms of configuration this will be the machine the
126			server is running on, and port 4567. To start ihost you
127			simply type:
128			</p>
129			<pre>
130			ihost.pl server.domain.com port
131			</pre>
132			<p>
133			ihost will then contact the server to obtain it's
134			configuration and start sending information.
135			</p>
136			<p>
137			The windows host, winhost, is very similar. All you need to
138			do is install it using the provided installer in the
139			download, and then edit the ini file to provide the two
140			bits of information above. Running the application starts
141			up communication with the server and data sending
142			commences.
143			</p>
144			<p>
145			Full details of both of these hosts can be found in the
146			relevant documentation on the website.
147			</p>
148			<h3>
149			5. Using Conient
150			</h3>
151			<p>
152			Conient allows you to view, in real time, the data being
153			sent by the hosts. This is a perfect way to test that all
154			the above steps have successfully been completed.
155			</p>
156			<p>
157			At present Conient is simply another archive which can be
158			extracted and run. However, in the near future we hope to
159			have an installer to make life easier. Conient is a Java
160			application and will run on most Java enabled platforms.
161			</p>
162			<p>
163			After extracting, the run script can be used to start
164			Conient, or in some cases the JAR file can be executed
165			manually. The GUI will then load. The configuration section
166			requires you to enter a host and port for the server. By
167			default this will be the machine on which the server is
168			running and port 4510. Conient will then connect upon
169			request and start displaying information.
170			</p>
171			<p>
172			Assuming data is displayed you have successfully setup the
173			i-scream central monitoring system. Well done!
174			</p>
175			<p>
176			This is explained in much more detail in the Conient
177			documentation.
178			</p>
179			<h3>
180			6. Setting up DBReporter
181			</h3>
182			<p>
183			If you are making use of a database you can setup the
184			DBReporter to generate web-based reports of the information
185			collected. This is just a case of extracting the archive to
186			a suitable location, configuring it, and setting it to run
187			on a regular basis (we suggest daily). DBReporter will also
188			ensure the database is kept relatively clean.
189			</p>
190			<p>
191			Full instructions are available in the DBReporter
192			documentation.
193			</p>
194			<h3>
195			7. Setting up the Web Interface
196			</h3>
197			<p>
198			The Web interface allows you to view various aspects of the
199			i-scream central monitoring system's output. These include
200			realtime viewing of data (much like Conient), links to the
201			DBReporter above, and full displaying of the alerts that
202			can be generated by the server.
203			</p>
204			<p>
205			The archive contains a series of PHP scripts which should
206			be placed on your PHP enabled web server. The configuration
207			files allow you to tailor the setup to suit your needs.
208			</p>
209			<p>
210			Full instructions are available in the relevant
211			documentation.
212			</p>
213			<h3>
214			8. Further
215			</h3>
216			<p>
217			You may decide to expand your setup to cover a larger
218			network. For example, a distributed filter arrangement
219			could cut down on the amount of traffic being sent around
220			the network. The server itself can be distributed to suit
221			your needs. You may wish to run the database section of the
222			server on the same machine as the database, while running
223			the rest on another machine.
224			</p>
225			<p>
226			Some discussion about this is available in the server
227			documentation.
228			</p>
229			<p>
230			If you have any questions about any of the above, please
231	tdb	1.14	don't hesitate to contact us on our mailing lists.
232	tdb	1.9	If you find we've missed something out, again, please let
233			us know.
234			</p>
235			<p>
236			Finally, we'd like to thank you for trying this i-scream
237			product. We realise that it's still at an early stage, and
238			we therefore appreciate you taking the time to try it out.
239			</p>
240			<p>
241			The i-scream team.
242			</p>
243			</div>
244	tdb	1.7	<!--#include virtual="/footer.inc" -->
245	tdb	1.9	</div>
246	tdb	1.7	<!--#include virtual="/menu.inc" -->
247	tdb	1.9	</div>
248			</body>
249	pjm2	1.3	</html>