Forum OpenACS Q&A: OACS 4.5 beta 1 install notes and impressions

I just got done installing the OACS 4.5 beta 1 and thought I'd share my configuration and notes on the experience. I followed the installation docs almost verbatim so I'll only mention the items where I deviated or came across something notable.

Windows 2000 host OS
VMware 3.0
RedHat Linux 7.2 guest OS
Webmin 0.950
Postgres 7.1.3
AOLserver 3.3+ad13
OpenACS 4.5 beta 1

I started with a clean install of RedHat 7.2 on a VMware virtual machine with 500 MB drive space and 128 MB ram allocated to it. I did not install X Windows at all.

The OS installation went smoothly, but one item to note on RH 7.2 is that it installed a firewall even though I opted not to. This came into play later during the testing of AOLserver and caused a bit of a halt in the process. More on that later.

I then installed Webmin 0.950. For those unfamiliar with Webmin, this is a great web-based utility for managing a linux box, especially when you're not using X. Once Webmin is installed you can configure a great deal of Linux from a web browser on the host OS (Win2k), or anywhere else on the network for that matter.

Next came the Postgres install. There really isn't much to note here as the installation docs provided an excellent step-by-step path. I did however, need to make a few slight changes in Webmin so that it was able to find the appropriate Postgres files:

path to the psql command: /usr/bin/psql => /usr/local/pgsql/bin/psql
path to shared libraries: "not needed" => /usr/local/pgsql/share
path to postmaster PID file: /var/run/postmaster.pid => /usr/local/data/postmaster.pid
path to host access config file: /var/lib/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf => /usr/local/pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf

I noticed one other slight deviation from the installation docs... At the point where you run the chkconfig --list postgresql command the docs say you should see "off" for run level 2, but mine said "on". I'm not familiar enough with Linux to know whether or not this is significant, but my system worked so I didn't pay it much attention.

On to the AOLserver install... The actual installation went very smoothly as guided by the docs. The difficulty (for me) came when trying to test the server. When I attempted to view the test page (http://192.168.0.10:8000) I received a page not found error. I decided to load the server from root and use port 80 (by changing the sample-config.tcl file). No luck. I then used Webmin to enable Apache on port 80. I was able to view the Apache test page just fine. I disabled Apache and retried AOLserver. No luck. Based on another thread I found on the OACS site, I decided to try hard-coding my hostname and address in the sample-config.tcl file. Still no luck.

After a bit of searching on the OACS message boards and Google I discovered that RH7.2 installs a firewall by default. This is what was blocking my access. I have used Linux for several years, but still consider myself quite a novice. As I had never configured a linux router / firewall before, I had never dealt with IPchains or IPtables. Well, it seems that RH 7.2 installs both, but only IPtables are active because both cannot be used at the same time. RedHat does provide a small gui interface for configuring the firewall, but if you are lucky enough to find the small print buried on the web you'll find that it only works when using IPchains. I struggled for quite a while trying to learn how to configure IPtables and even tried using some 3rd party utilites to do so (RedHat provides no utility for configuring IPtables). After MUCH frustration I came to the realization that I wasn't doing all this to learn to configure a firewall, but to learn OACS. So after a quick uninstall of IPtables by doing a rpm -e | grep iptables I was back to testing AOLserver.

A quick restart of the AOLserver and.... no luck. (there's a large hole in the wall next to my desk from my head banging against it!)

Then I remembered to try hard-coding the hostname and address in sample-config.tcl again...

set hostname 192.168.0.10
set address 192.168.0.10

(Obviously, use your own IP addresses above.)

BINGO!!! SUCCESS!! I was able to see the AOLserver test page!

Now on to the good stuff... OpenACS 4.5 beta 1... The installation went flawless by following the installation docs! Untar the files, rename the directory, setup a Postgres tablespace, configure AOLserver (remember the hostname and address fix), and you're set! Take a few mintues to walk outside while the data models install and life is good again. I think this was the easiest part of the entire day!

I've been playing around with ("testing") the various packages and haven't hit any show stopping bugs yet. My hat's off to all those involved in getting this release working and out the door!

My 2 cents: First off, I have a fairly strong background in db- backed web development, but a weak one with Linux, AOLserver, and Tcl. I do most of my development in ASP and SQL Server, but have been a follower of Philip, photo.net, ArsDigita, and the ACS for several years. I have learned a great deal from this community and wish I had the time (and clients) to do more work with OACS and give back as much as I have taken. Here are a few suggestions that I think could make this an even better product:

In my opinion, the vast majority of documentation needs an overhaul. I think there needs be various levels such as: end-user, administrator, developer, and maybe even DBA. I found many of the docs to be written to an audience of an experienced developer and while that is needed, there also needs to be info for the person(s) who will be managing the site when the developers aren't around. An example is maybe the groups documentation. It goes to great lengths trying to explain the different types of relationships within groups, but to a novice admin of this system it is somewhat mind-boggling trying to figure out what a relational-segment really is. And groups are one of the most basic concepts to a web communtity. We should try to "dumb down" some basic concepts to educate a wider audience.
Links to "help" pages right from the various modules would benefit users/admins tremendously.
A few of the pages do not offer links back to the module you came from or even to "home". Example: when editing your alerts from your workspace, if you have no alerts the page tells you so, but offers no link back to anywhere.
The default "your workspace" page should have links to other modules of the site. Currently, there really are none.
Spice up the default pages a bit. True developers will see beyond the plain ol' text pages, but novices may get the impression that this system is old, outdated, or whatever. A little color and formatting goes a long way. By that I don't mean fancy graphics, javascript, etc., but just a good page layout. First impressions mean a lot!

Once again, congratulations and thank you to all who continue to make this a killer product and community!