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Documentation: System Administrators Guide

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1.0.0 Installation

1.0.1 What is HUBzero?

HUBzero is a platform used to create dynamic web sites for scientific research and educational activities. With HUBzero, you can easily publish your research software and related educational materials on the web. Powerful middleware serves up interactive simulation and modeling tools via your web browser. These tools can connect you with rendering farms and powerful Grid computing resources.

Last Modified: 2010-03-31 19:51:35 Back to the top

1.0.2 Minimum System Requirements

HUBzero installations require one or more dedicated physical hosts running Debian GNU/Linux 5.0.

Other distributions might theoretically work with some modification, although they would be totally unsupported.

A typical starter HUBzero installation might consist of a single physical server with dual 64-bit quad-core CPUs, 16 Gigabytes of RAM and a terabyte of disk

It is possible to run HUBzero inside of a virtual machine such as ones created by VMware and VirtualBox. While fully functional there will would significant performance and resource limitations in such an environment.

Last Modified: 2010-02-08 21:49:52 Back to the top

1.0.3 Target Audience

This document and the installation of a HUBzero system has a target audience of experienced Linux administrators (preferably experienced with Debian GNU/Linux).

Last Modified: 2010-02-08 21:50:06 Back to the top

1.0.4 What's Included

HUBzero is composed of the following packages (subject to change):

Package Name Purpose
hubzero-addrepoCreates project areas for tool development
hubzero-apache2Apache 2.2 Site Configuration Files for HUBzero
hubzero-appHUBzero App Installer
hubzero-app-invokeHUBzero application (tool) invocation scripts
hubzero-app-workspaceHUBzero App providing a lightweigth Linux desktop, for app/tool development
hubzero-cmsThe HUBzero Content Management System (based on Joomla! framework)
hubzero-cms-joomlaJoomla! framework used by HUBzero
hubzero-cms-setupCustomizes the HUBzero CMS database
hubzero-configConfigures a HUBzero server and provides an automated installation script
hubzero-expire-sessionsExpires unused app/tool sessions
hubzero-filexferTransfer files between App Sessions and user's desktop
hubzero-filexfer-xlateSupport daemon for the filexfer program
hubzero-firewallHUBzero firewall that protects app/tool sessions
hubzero-icewmLinux ICE window manager configuration, used in workspaces
hubzero-icewm-captiveLinux ICE window manager specially crafted to support tools in a sessions
hubzero-icewm-themesThe HUBzero Linux ICE window manager theme, used in workspaces
hubzero-mw-clientHUBzero middleware - client
hubzero-mw-serviceHUBzero middleware - execution host session manager
hubzero-mw-sessionHUBzero middleware - per session tools
hubzero-mysqlMySQL configuration package for HUBzero
hubzero-openldapOpenLDAP configuration package for HUBzero
hubzero-pythonHUBzero python API module
hubzero-rapptureThe Rapid APPlication infrastrucTURE toolkit for building scientific tools
hubzero-rappture-sessionSession support packages for Rappture
hubzero-ratpoison-captiveLinux window manager, used in app/tool sessions
hubzero-submit-clientThe session based part of the job submission server
hubzero-submit-distributorPart of the job submission server
hubzero-submit-serverPart of the job submission server
hubzero-telequotadDisk quota monitor
hubzero-texvcHelper utility to generate math fomulas for wiki markup
hubzero-trac-mysqlauthzPlug-in for MySQL user auth in project development areas
hubzero-twm-captiveLinux TWM window manager, used in app/tool sessions
hubzero-useCommand for configuring the environment within a workspace
hubzero-usermapFile permission mapping FUSE filesystem used by WebDAV
hubzero-vncproxyRoutes vnc between web server and app/tool session
icewmModified Linux ICE window manager, used in workspaces
tightvnc-javaModified VNC Client that receives app/tool sessions within a web browser
vnc4serverModified VNC Server that sends app/tool sessions to the web browser

Last Modified: 2011-05-11 22:25:27 Back to the top

1.0.5 Source Code

You'll find most of the source code within the web root of a working hub. But you can get source code for the middleware and all other parts by installing source code via the package mechanism as follows. First, update your package mechanism to pull packages from our HUBzero machine. Edit your /etc/apt/sources.list and add the following lines:

deb http://packages.hubzero.org/deb buck main contrib non-free
deb-src http://packages.hubzero.org/deb buck main contrib non-free

Then, install the hubzero archive key so that your system can verify packages from the hubzero archive. Run the following command as root:

wget http://packages.hubzero.org/deb/hubzero-signing-key.asc -q -O - | apt-key add -

Once the public key for http://packages.hubzero.org has been installed, you can request the hubzero source code for each package:

apt-get source packageName

where packageName is the desired package from the table above.

Last Modified: 2011-03-30 13:22:33 Back to the top