Installing the MICHAEL platform

This document explains how to install version 1.1 of the MICHAEL platform. In order to understand and follow these instructions, you first need to read the previous documents about installation : system requirements, server preparation and download. Also, you need basic knowledge of server administration and an interactive access to the computer where the platform will be installed.

The installation process is quite simple. The main steps are:

1. Unzip the downloaded file.
2. Change a few installation and configuration properties.
3. Execute an installation script.
4. Start the application.
5. Do some initial set up duties such as uploading lists, creating new users or changing root password.

These steps are explained with more details in the following sections. We use the term server to identify the computer where the platform will be installed. But remember that the platform can work on a wide variety of systems, from a laptop to a full-fledged server.

1) Uncompressing the downloaded file

The MICHAEL platform is currently distributed as a single compressed archive, in ZIP format. In the future, there will be alternative formats or version.

To install the platform, you first need to unzip the file to a temporary or working directory. This directory may be anywhere on the server; it is not the final installation directory. Please note however that it may be a good idea to apply changes to the platform before installing it, so this directory may become an important one.

In the rest of this document, the directory where you unzipped the downloaded file will be called $SRCDIR .

2) Installation properties

There are a few properties to change before installing the platform. These properties are set in the $SRCDIR/michael-install.properties file. This is a simple text file that can be edited with any text editor.

If you plan to modify or reinstall later on the platform, it is recommended to copy this file to your home directory on the server, and to modify this copy instead of the original. The installations scripts will read your home directory's properties file before the one in $SRCDIR/michael-install.properties . It may simplify updates in the future if you work with your own copy of the properties.

The properties are defined with a very simple syntax that follows standard Java property files. A property is defined on a single line. An empty line and a line starting with # are ignored. The name of the property is first written, followed by a equal sign = and then by the value of the property. Here is an example:

michael.sdx.application.id=org.michael-culture.mpf.fr

In this example, the name of the property is michael.sdx.application.id and its value is org.michael-culture.mpf.fr .

The installation properties are defined and explained in the following table.

3) Installation script

Once the properties are correctly set, you may execute the installation script. Before doing so, please note:

1. It is recommended to stop the servlet engine (such as Tomcat) before launching the script. Experienced Tomcat administrators may proceed otherwise.
2. On UNIX/Linux systems, you must set execute privileges to *.sh files in the distribution. The commands chmod ug+x *.sh and chmod ug+x bin/*.sh will do it.

The installation script is install.bat on Windows and install.sh on UNIX-like servers. You may execute it to install the platform. Files will be copied to the installation directory, and some properties are changed in some files.

4) Starting the application

To use the platform, you simply need to start your servlet engine such as Tomcat. Then you may go to the URL http://[Tomcat URL]/mpf/priv/ to use the production module, and http://[Tomcat URL]/mpf/ to use the publication module. The mpf part in this URL depends on your installation properties, it is the last part of the installation directory. Experienced Tomcat administrators may have different setups.

5) Changing root passwords

Once the server is started, the first thing to do is to change the root passwords. There are two superusers in for the MICHAEL platform : introot and root . The introot user is used internally be the application ; the root user is used normally, by logging in with a password.

You need to make two changes:

1. Set a new password for the root user (the installation default is root ).
2. Set the password of the introot user to the one you provided in the michael.xdepo.pwd property at installation time.

To do so, go at the login screen (http://[Tomcat URL]/mpf/priv/ ) and log in as user root with password root . You will get to the user's homepage, click on a link such as "Digital collections" folder and then on the Users button on the bottom of the page.

The form you will see will let you change the passwords. You first select the user in the drop-down list, and then click on the Update an user password button. Remember that you must do this operation for both the introot and root users, for security reasons. And remember the password you give to the root user.

6) Adding lists

Some forms for creating records need list of values. There are some lists available in the distribution, and these lists can be uploaded into the platform. Here is how to do it:

1. Log in as root (or any other member of the dba group).
2. Browse to the root folder of the installation. You should see a subfolder named Lists .
3. Click on the Import an archive button in the bottom of the page.
4. In the following form, use the Browse button to select a ZIP file containing the lists. The ZIP file is located in the distribution of the MICHAEL platform, in the build-list folder. There are four ZIP files, please select the one corresponding to the instance you installed (FR, UK, IT or MPF).