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gettingstarted.shtml |
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Created by tdb1 27/05/2001 |
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Last edited 27/05/2001 |
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<title>Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System</title> |
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<h2>Getting Started with the i-scream Central Monitoring System</h2> |
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<h3>1. Installing the corba services (pre-requisite for the server)</h3> |
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<p>The server requires a CORBA Naming Service to run. It may be that you already |
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have such a system running, in which case you can use that. Simply edit the |
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jacorb.properties file to point to your Naming service. If you don't have a |
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naming service running you could just set up your own manually, but if like us |
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you want the easy approach, install our corba services program.</p> |
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<p>This program runs the naming service and provides a builtin webserver to |
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serve requests to the server application. The documentation details how to get |
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this running. It should simply be a case of extracting and running.</p> |
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<h3>1. Installing the server</h3> |
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<p>The first stage is to download and install the server application. The |
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latest versions of all i-scream applications can be found at the following |
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URL:</p> |
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<p><a href="http://www.i-scream.org.uk/downloads">http://www.i-scream.org.uk/downloads</a></p> |
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<p>Once downloaded, the archive should be extracted to a directory of your |
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choice. The server will run on most Java enabled platforms (including |
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Windows, Linux and FreeBSD).</p> |
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<p>The archive consists of only a few files and directories. The main file is |
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the iscream-server.jar archive which contains all the binary code for the |
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server. The lib directory contains other JAR archives which the server |
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requires to run. The etc directory contains (or will contain) |
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configuration for most of the i-scream central monitoring system. The next |
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step is to configure the server to suit your requirements.</p> |
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<h3>2. Configuring the server</h3> |
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<p>The configuration is split into two main files. The first, |
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default.properties can be considered a bootstrap configuration. This means |
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that it provides basic configuration to get the server started, after |
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which point the main configuration system takes over. This file should be |
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checked through, and is pretty well explained by comments.</p> |
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<p>The rest of the server configuration is based on system.conf. This can |
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hold the entire system configuration, including hosts. It may also specify |
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other configuration files to be included in the main configuration. This |
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file is also commented extensively.</p> |
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<p>This step may well take some time to get right, and you can come back to |
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it at any point. Lots of the configuration can be changed "on the fly" |
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as well.</p> |
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<p>For fuller and complete details of the configuration system, and the |
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server in general, please see the Server User Guide in the documentation |
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section of the website.</p> |
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<h3>2a. Setting up the database</h3> |
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<p>The i-scream central monitoring system can make use of a database for |
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generating historical reports. The documentation explains how you would |
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configure the system to do this. You will need to create a single basic |
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table yourself, this is also explained in the documentation.</p> |
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<h3>3. Starting the server</h3> |
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<p>Starting up the server is a trivial task. Usually you can just get away |
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with running the run script provided. This will boot the server up |
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displaying some basic information to the console. If something goes wrong, |
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the error message should point to the cause.</p> |
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<h3>4. Setting up hosts</h3> |
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<p>Hosts can be run on either Unix (tested with Solaris, FreeBSD and some |
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Linux distributions) or Windows. Both are equally easy to setup.</p> |
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<p>Firstly, the Unix host is called "ihost". This can be downloaded from the |
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i-scream website. Once extracted it just needs to be started up. You need two |
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pieces of information to do this: the filtermanager (part of the server) host |
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and port number. If you haven't changed much in terms of configuration this will |
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be the machine the server is running on, and port 4567. To start ihost you |
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simply type;</p> |
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<pre>ihost.pl server.domain.com port</pre> |
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<p>ihost will then contact the server to obtain it's configuration and start |
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sending information.</p> |
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<p>The windows host, winhost, is very similar. All you need to do is install it |
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using the provided installer in the download, and then edit the ini file to |
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provide the two bits of information above. Running the application starts up |
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communication with the server and data sending commences.</p> |
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<p>Full details of both of these hosts can be found in the relevant |
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documentation on the website.</p> |
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<h3>5. Using Conient</h3> |
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<p>Conient allows you to view, in real time, the data being sent by the |
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hosts. This is a perfect way to test that all the above steps have |
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successfully been completed.</p> |
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<p>At present Conient is simply another archive which can be extracted and |
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run. However, in the near future we hope to have an installer to make life |
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easier. Conient is a Java application and will run on most Java enabled |
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platforms.</p> |
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<p>After extracting, the run script can be used to start Conient, or in some |
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cases the JAR file can be executed manually. The GUI will then load. The |
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configuration section requires you to enter a host and port for the |
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server. By default this will be the machine on which the server is running |
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and port 4510. Conient will then connect upon request and start displaying |
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information.</p> |
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<p>Assuming data is displayed you have successfully setup the i-scream |
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central monitoring system. Well done!</p> |
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<p>This is explained in much more detail in the Conient documentation.</p> |
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<h3>6. Setting up DBReporter</h3> |
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<p>If you are making use of a database you can setup the DBReporter to |
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generate web-based reports of the information collected. This is just a |
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case of extracting the archive to a suitable location, configuring it, and |
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setting it to run on a regular basis (we suggest daily). DBReporter will |
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also ensure the database is kept relatively clean.</p> |
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<p>Full instructions are available in the DBReporter documentation.</p> |
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<h3>7. Setting up the Web Interface</h3> |
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<p>The Web interface allows you to view various aspects of the i-scream |
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central monitoring system's output. These include realtime viewing of data |
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(much like Conient), links to the DBReporter above, and full displaying of |
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the alerts that can be generated by the server.</p> |
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<p>The archive contains a series of PHP scripts which should be placed on |
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your PHP enabled web server. The configuration files allow you to tailor |
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the setup to suit your needs.</p> |
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<p>Full instructions are available in the relevant documentation.</p> |
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<h3>8. Further</h3> |
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<p>You may decide to expand your setup to cover a larger network. For example, a |
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distributed filter arrangement could cut down on the amount of traffic |
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being sent around the network. The server itself can be distributed to suit your |
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needs. You may wish to run the database section of the server on the same |
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machine as the database, while running the rest on another machine.</p> |
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<p>Some discussion about this is available in the server documentation.</p> |
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<p>If you have any questions about any of the above, please don't hesitate to |
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contact us at <a href="mailto:dev@i-scream.org.uk">dev@i-scream.org.uk</a>. If you find we've missed something out, |
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again, please let us know.</p> |
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<p>Finally, we'd like to thank you for trying this i-scream product. We realise |
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that it's still at an early stage, and we therefore appreciate you taking |
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the time to try it out.</p> |
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<p>The i-scream team. |
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