Redd Install

This document will describe you how to setup CPS, the collaborative web content management solution for Zope, on 10 different servers on 10 different locations synchronized between them.

So each time a CPS document will be created on one of 10 locations, then it also have to be created on all others locations.

And each time a modification is made on one document on one of the 10 location, the modification have to be done on all locations.

One of the server will act as a master and all other as clients. This means that every modification/creation/deletion from a client, have to be sent to the master.

Gather informations about each site :

We will have many constraints. We have to setup about 10 clients, and each site will need a different configuration. The main problem is that we will not have any access to boxes, even in the beginning. So the first thing we need is some information on each site, about the local settings we will be able to use.

This is the list of what we need on each site :

    - dhcp server ? (yes or no)
    - ip address if fixed : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    - default gw : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    - dns server : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
    - root password ?? :
    - ip of the master
    - mail used for the synchronization process
    - mail used on the main server for the synchronization process.

On most sites, we will have no dhcp, no dns, and no ssh access at all.

Sending material :

This is what will be sent on each site :

    - an sumicom box :
        - 512 Mb of RAM 
        - 40GB hard drive
        - BIOS Setting boot order : Usb Hard Disk, Hard Disk
    - an usb key of 256 Mb :
        - the default installer
        - config file specific to the site

Installing the software :

We need to install at the beginning, in order to setup the operating system on the disk. After, no installation should be required except if a problem occurs.

Almost anyone should be able to install it, so no configuration is possible for the end user. The box must follow the plug & play principle.

Nexedi will do the installation on each box before sending them. It is not really necessary to do it by ourself, but like this, we will be sure that every box will be able to boot correctly.

Installing a box is really simple, this is the list of steps needed :

• turn the box off
• insert the usb key
• turn the box on
• wait
• go to the web interface (see section how to go to the web interface), and then follow instructions.

Web interface :

Each sumicom box will provide an easy web interface with some really basic operations. This interface is intended for simple administration tasks, and it will also be used to give some informations to the manager.

If you want to access to the web interface, you should start your favourite browser and then enter the following url:

    http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:9000/

Where "xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx" have to be replaced by the ip address where zope is running.

This web interface will display the state of the box and allow the manager to learn what's eventually going wrong. This is the list of things to check and eventually display an error message :

• internet is available, it is required in order to synchronize with the master. if internet is not available, then synchronization will not be possible, so an error message will be displayed.
• zope is running. This will display nothing except if the local zope is not running. If so then an error message will be displayed and explain that zope should be restarted.
• space available. This will check if there is enough space available on all partitions. We should not have this kind of problem, but it is a very good thing to check. If there is enough space, nothing will be displayed. If the space is too small we will display a message.
• memory available. This looks at the memory and see if it is not too much used. This can happens with zope that the corresponding process takes too much memory. If so, an error message will be displayed and it will tell to the user that zope should be restarted.
• The master is (isn't) accessible. It can happens that the internet is available but not the master (if the master is down for example). Then the synchronization can't happen and then we need to display an error message and it will tell to the user that he should wait until the master is available.
• The hard drive is empty/broken. If so then an error message will be displayed and then it will invite the user to install the hard drive, and also warn the user. Be carefull, this operation will erase everything on the hard disk !!

This web interface will allows to do the following things :

• shutdown the box : this is usefull if the user want to properly shutdown this box.
• restart zope : This simply restart zope.
• update the usb key : this allows to automatically downloads the last updates available. This should be done only if it is required, after that some people form Nexedi have said to do so.
• install the hard drive : this is mainly used at the beginning, for the first installation of the hard drive. We should use it after only in some particular cases. The user should think about it before pushing this button (a confirmation will be asked).

Problem resolution :

The blue light is off :

• check the power cable
• start the box manually
• if still off, then call Nexedi

Network test :

• You shoulk use the ping program in order to check if you can access to the system.

  You can start inside a console this command available on any operating system :

          ping xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
  

  Replace xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx with the ip address of the local server where zope is running. You should see something like this :

          PING 192.168.253.14 (192.168.253.14) 56(84) bytes of data.
          64 bytes from 192.168.253.14: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=3.18 ms
          64 bytes from 192.168.253.14: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=3.22 ms
          ...
          --- 192.168.253.14 ping statistics ---
          3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2017ms
  

  This previous output is displayed when the server is available. The most important thing to see is that there is 0% packet loss. This is the output when the network is not available :

          PING 192.168.253.166 (192.168.253.166) 56(84) bytes of data.
          --- 192.168.253.166 ping statistics ---
          3 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 1999ms
  

  Here, we can see that 100% packet are lost, wich means we can't access to the server.

• if all packets are lost, then you should check your network.

The box doesn't respond at all, the web interface is not available :

• do a network test to make sure you can access to the box.
• check if the light is on, it is a quite stupid test, but it important to do so.
• stop and start the box manually, this is quite rude, but since the web interface is not available we don't really have the choice.
• wait 10 minutes
• check if the web interface is available again, if it available, then see if there is any error message. If it is still not available, then you have to boot on the usb key.

Zope is not available :

• go to the web interface

Data are not synchronized :

• lgo to the web interface

Strange problems appears :

• go to the web interface

How to boot from the usb key ?

This is quite simple. You first need to shutdown the box (through the web interface when it is possible). Then insert the usb key. Then start the box. This will automatically boot from the usb key. Then you will be able to access to the web interface.