Administration
Portal 2.0 Installation using Installer
 | With the caGrid 1.2 release, the Installer has the capability to install the caGrid Portal. Following are the steps to install the Portal using the Installer |
Obtain the caGrid 1.2 Installer
- Get the caGrid 1.2 Installer from here
Note: This page will only deal with the Portal installation details. General instructions on running the caGrid Installer are in the Installer Instructions
Obtain Required Software
The following software must be installed:
- Java 1.5
- Make sure JAVA_HOME is set and Java SDK executable is on the PATH.
- MySQL 5+
- You will need privileges to create and delete databases.
Create Database User(s)
You will need one (optionally two) mysql user that can create new databases. The portal installer will help create the required databases for the portal.
Create SSL Certificate and Keystore
Some pages in the portal need to be protected with HTTPS. You will need to create an SSL certificate that the embedded Tomcat instance (running in JBoss) will use. The installer will take care of configuring the Tomcat HTTPS Connector, but you still must either create a certificate and PKCS12 keystore, or specify the path to an existing keystore and provide the keystore password.
The basic process of creating a keystore using Java's keytool is as follows:
$JAVA_HOME/bin/keytool \-genkey \-alias tomcat \-keyalg RSA \-keystore /path/to/my/keystore
Make sure to use the same password for keystore and key. When prompted for first and last name, specify the host name.
Complete instructions on using keytool can be found here:
Instructions on configure JBoss and Tomcat to use SSL are here:
- http://tomcat.apache.org/tomcat-5.5-doc/ssl-howto.html
- http://docs.jboss.org/jbossas/jboss4guide/r5/html/ch9.chapt.html#ch9.https.sect
The location of the keystore file and the password will be configured when running the Portal Installer
Obtain Google Maps API Key
You can get a Google Maps API key here: http://www.google.com/apis/maps/signup.htmlIf your host's name is my.host.com, and the HTTP server is listening to port 8080 then the URL you should use is: http://my.host.com:8080Save the key as you will need it during the installation of the Portal
Obtain Yahoo ApplicationID
Get an ApplicationID from Yahoo: http://developer.yahoo.com/wsregapp/index.phpSave the key as you will need it during the installation of the Portal
Run caGrid Installer
Execute the caGrid Installer. Some of the critical steps for installing the Portal, are explained in more detail below.
Installer Step: Select Installation Type
Once you have started the caGrid 1.2 Installer. Select the checkbox with the label "Install caGrid Portal" as shown in the following screenshot
Installer Step: Configure database
The portal needs two databases to store information. The installer will prompt you to enter the connection details for both these databases.
Note: It will delete existing databases by the same name. So make sure to use database names that do not currently exist.
The following is a screenshot on how to configure database connections details.
Installer Step: Configure Portal Properties
The first of the two screens to configure portal properties are shown below
Following properties will be configured on this screen
- Google Maps Key : [See earlier step]
- Yahoo application ID: [See earlier step]
- Encryption Key: This the key that is used to encrypted/decrypt authentication tickets and grid credentials
- Path to Keystore File: Keystore file used by JBOSS [See earlier step]
- HTTP Redirect Port- This is used when standing up a Apache webserver in front of the portal.Leave the default values if you are not using Apache redirects.
- HTTPS Redirect Port- This is used when standing up a Apache webserver in front of the portal. Leave the default values if you are not using Apache redirects.
- Administrator Email- Portal Admin Email Address: This is the email address that will be provided in case of errors.
- Administrator username: Username to login as the administrator. The login will be the username you specify here @cabig.nci.nih.gov For eg. kherm@cabig.nci.nih.gov
Note: Do Not use special characters or your email for the username.
- Administrator password: Password for the admin user
Installer Step: Configure Portal Properties
In the next screen you will need to enter some more properties for the Portal.
- Target Grid: This is the target grid that Portal will run against.
- Synchronize Trust Fabric: Portal has the capability to periodically synchronize the trust fabric against the target grid chosen. You should only unselect this if you are synchronizing the trust fabric manually.
- GME Url: URL for the Global Model Exchange Grid Service
- CaDSR Url: URL for the caDSR Grid Service
- IFS Url: URL to the Identity Federation Service
- Index Service URL: Portal can aggregate information from multiple Index Services
- IdP Service URLs: URL for one or more Identity provider Grid services
Post Installation
Post Install Step: Setup Environment
On MS Windows, use the System application in the Control Panel to set the JBOSS_HOME environment variable to point to the directory in which JBoss was installed. By default, this will be:
%PORTAL_INSTALL_DIR%\portal-liferay\jboss-4.0.5.GA
On Unix/Linux/Mac, the default location will be $HOME/portal-liferay/jboss-4.0.5.GA. You can set the environment variable in the bash shell as follows:
export JBOSS_HOME=$PORTAL_INSTALL_DIR/portal-liferay/jboss-4.0.5.GA
Note: PORTAL_INSTALL_DIR is the directory you selected during the Install earlier
Post Install Step: Start the Application Server
On MS Windows, go to %JBOSS_HOME%\bin and double-click run.bat
On Unix/Linux/Mac, you should do something like this:
cd $JBOSS_HOME/bin chmod u+x * ./run.sh > portal.log &
Post Install Step: Import the Site Structure
The basic site structure can be configured by using the Liferay administrative portlets to import Liferay Archive (lar) files. I've created these lar files in the $PORTAL_INSTALL_DIR/portals/liferay/lars/ directory.
Follow these directions to import the lar file:
- In your browser, go to: https://<hostname>:8443
- Sign in with the administrator username and password selected during the installation
- From upper right-hand corner, click "Welcome" drop-down list, then select MyPlaces > My Community. Then click on the icon to the right of the "Private Pages" text.
- Click on the "Import/Export" tab.
- Click on the "Import" sub tab.
- Select the "Portlet Preferences" and "Portlet Data" checkboxes.
- Press the "Browse..." button to navigate to and select "portaladmin-private-community.lar"
- Click "OK"
- Click "Import" button.
- Click back arror icon in upper, right-hand corner.n
- In upper right-hand corner, click "Welcome" drop-down list, then select My Places > My Community > Private Pages. This time, just click on the "Private Pages" text, NOT the icon to the right.
- In Communities portlet, click "Communities I have joined" tab.
- Click the "Configure Pages" icon for the "Guest" community. That's the 3rd icon from the left. It looks two pieces of paper.
- Click on the "Import/Export" tab.
- Click on the "Import" sub tab.
- Select the "Portlet Preferences" and "Portlet Data" checkboxes.
- Press the "Browse..." button to navigate to and select "guest-community.lar" and Click "OK"
- Click "Import" button.
- Click back arrow icon in upper, right-hand corner of page.
- In upper, right-hand cornder, click "Welcome" drop-down list, then selected My Places > Guest Community > Public Pages.
You should see the caGrid Portal Home page. Sign out by selecting the "Sign Out" option from the "Welcome" drop-down list.
Note: If you see an error message on the Home page saying that "you don't have privileges to view this portlet", right below the Google Map, just restart JBoss.
Post Install Step: Secure Encryption key
A file named 'cagridportal.properties' will be generated and placed in two locations on the filesystem:
- $JBOSS_HOME/server/default/deploy/liferay-portal.war/WEB-INF/classes/cagridportal.properties - $JBOSS_HOME/server/default/deploy/cagridportlets/WEB-INF/classes/cagridportal.properties
The value of the 'cagrid.portal.security.encryption.key' property in this file will be used to encrypt authentication tickets as well as portal users' temporary grid credentials (in the database). It is important that these files are protected so that users' grid credentials cannot be decrypted by a malicious user who has access to both the hosting system and database. Set file permissions appropriately for your system.