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Installing the ArsDigita Community System v 3.3

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ACS Documentation : ACS Installation Guide : Installing the ArsDigita Community System v 3.3

This document covers the installation of the ArsDigita Community System (ACS) step by step. It assumes that you have already installed Oracle and AOLServer.

  1. Downloading the ACS
  2. Prepare Oracle for the ACS
  3. Setup nightly Oracle exports
  4. Installing the ACS into Oracle
  5. Configuring AOLServer
  6. Ensuring that your service starts automatically on boot.
  7. Appendix A: How to Transfer Data.
  8. Appendix B: Running AOLServer on Port 80
  9. Appendix C: Deleting a tablespace.

Downloading the ACS.

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Prepare Oracle for ACS

You should be logged on as nsadmin for this step and you should make sure that nsadmin is in the dba group. TOP

Set up nightly Oracle exports

While you're working with Oracle, you should configure it to do automatic exports. An export is a separate backup copy of the database. This copy includes all of the database's state at the time that the export was initiated. If your database is corrupted, you can restore from one of these backups (see appendix). You should do this step as root. TOP

Installing the ACS into Oracle.

This step should be completed as nsadmin. TOP

Configuring AOLServer

The AOLServer architecture lets you run an arbitrary number of virtual servers. A virtual server is an HTTP service running on a specific port, e.g. port 80. In order for the ACS to work, you need to configure a virtual server. Because the process is involved, we have prepared a sample virtual server configuration file.

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Troubleshooting

If you can't get to the login page, check for one of the below errors:

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Ensure that your service automatically starts on boot (or any other time the service dies).

This step should be completed as root. This can break every service on your machine, so proceed with caution.

If the processes were killed, congratulations, your server is now automated for startup and shutdown. On to the Acceptance Tests!!


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Appendix A: How to Transfer Data

If you are moving the service from one location to another, export code for the old database and import into the new. If your database has been hosed and you want to restore a backup, use the imp command. These commands can be run from the shell, you don't need to use sqlplus. To export:
exp service_name/database_password file=foo.dmp consistent=y full=y

To import:

imp service_name/database_password file=foo.dmp [fromuser=olduser touser=service_name]
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Appendix B: Running AOLServer on Port 80

If you want to run the service on port 80 (the default HTTP port), you need to add some additional settings to your service_name.ini file in /home/aol30. Under the [ns/parameters] section, ensure that there is an entry
User=nsadmin
Moreover, you will need to start the service as root. If you follow the instructions above for automating startup, this will be taken care of, but if you ever start the server from the command line, be sure to su - first.

These steps are required because port 80 is a privileged port. Only certain users can claim it. When you start nsd as root, it obtains the port, and then changes to run as whatever user you specify in the server configuration file. This ensures a high level of security, as the server, once started, is not running as root. This mean that if someone was able to exploit your web server to execute a command on your server, they would not be able to gain root access.

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Appendix C: Deleting a tablespace

Should it become necessary to rebuild a tablespace from scratch, you can use the drop user command with the cascade option. This command will drop the user and every database object the user owns.
drop user service_name cascade; 

If this does not work because svrmgrl "cannot drop a user that is currently connected", make sure to kill the AOLServer using this user. If it still does not work, do:

 select username, sid, serial# from v$session where username='service_name'; 

and then

alter system kill session 'sid,serial#';

where sid and serial# are replaced with the corresponding values for the open session.

Use with caution!

If you feel the need to delete everything related to the service, you can also issue the following:

drop tablespace service_name including contents cascade constraints;

Previous: Installing AOLServer 3.0 Installing the ArsDigita Community System v 3.3
part of the ACS Installation Guide
Next: Acceptance Tests

bquinn@arsdigita.com