Installation and Conguration [ 72 ] • Virtualization server • Standalone deployment receiver Before running Alfresco, you may need to modify the conguration settings. If you have installed Alfresco using one of the installation wizards, the conguration is set for you. Starting the Alfresco server Once you have installed Alfresco, you can test the installation by starting the server. For Windows: 1. Browse to C:\alfresco and double-click on alf_start.bat. 2. Or if you installed Alfresco using the installer, from the Start menu, select All Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Start Alfresco Server. A command prompt opens with a message indicating the server has started. INFO: Server startup in nnnn ms For Linux: 1. Browse to /opt/alfresco/ and run alfresco.sh start. 2. The default shell is sh. You can edit the alfresco.sh le to change to your preferred shell. Starting Alfresco Share Once you have installed Alfresco, you can start Alfresco Share using a browser. 1. Browse to the location of your Alfresco installation. If you installed Alfresco on your local machine, browse to http://localhost:8080/share. In Windows, alternatively, you can click on the Start menu and select All Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Alfresco Share. Alfresco Share opens. 2. Log in using admin as the default username and password. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Chapter 2 [ 73 ] Starting Alfresco Explorer Once you have installed Alfresco, you can start Alfresco Explorer using a browser. 1. Browse to the location of your Alfresco installation. If you installed Alfresco on your local machine, browse to http://localhost:8080/alfresco. In Windows, alternatively, you can click on the Start menu, and select All Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Alfresco Explorer. Alfresco Explorer opens. 2. Log in using admin as the default username and password. Stopping the Alfresco server For Windows: 1. Browse to C:\alfresco and double-click on alf.stop.bat. 2. Or click on the Start menu and select All Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Stop Alfresco Server. The command prompt that opened during startup closes. Alfresco has now stopped. For Linux: 1. Browse to /opt/alfresco/ and run alfresco.sh stop. Starting the Alfresco virtualization server If you have installed Alfresco WCM, you can use the Preview Website feature by starting the Alfresco virtualization server. For Windows: 1. Browse to C:\alfresco and double-click on virtual.start.bat. 2. Or click on the Start menu and select All Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Start Virtual Server. For Linux: 1. Browse to /opt/alfresco/ and run virtual.alf_sh start. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Installation and Conguration [ 74 ] Stopping the Alfresco virtualization server For Windows: 1. Browse to C:\alfresco and double-click on virtual.stop.bat. 2. Or you can also click on the Start menu and select Programs | Alfresco Community Edition | Stop Virtual Server. For Linux: 1. Browse to /opt/alfresco/ and run sh virtual_alf.sh stop. Starting the deployment engine The standalone deployment engine is implemented as a set of Java libraries and is multi-platform. Bourne shell scripts are provided for Unix, and Windows batch les are provided for Windows. For Windows, to start the standalone deployment engine: 1. Open a command prompt and run the deploy_start script, or select Start Menu | All Programs | Alfresco Standalone Deployment Receiver | Start Alfresco Standalone Deployment Receiver. 2. The Start Menu action is available if you have used the deployment installer to install the Standalone Deployment Engine. This action is calling the deploy_start.bat script. It is also possible to install the standalone deployment engine as a Windows service, which can automatically start when Windows starts. For Linux, to start the standalone deployment engine, open a command prompt and run the deploy_start.sh script. 1. When deploying to a deployment engine running on a multi-NIC system, it may be necessary to bind the RMI registry to a particular IP address. To do this, add the following to the Java command in deploy_start.sh or deploy_start.bat: -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=x.x.x.x Here x.x.x.x is the IP address assigned to the NIC to which you want to bind. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Chapter 2 [ 75 ] Stopping the deployment engine The standalone deployment engine is implemented as a set of Java libraries and is multi-platform. Bourne shell scripts are provided for Unix, and Windows batch les are provided for Windows. For Windows, to stop the standalone deployment engine: 1. Open a command prompt and run deploy_stop.bat, or select Start Menu | All Programs | Alfresco Standalone Deployment Receiver | Stop Alfresco Standalone Deployment Receiver. For Linux, to stop the standalone deployment engine open a command prompt and run the deploy_stop.sh script. Starting and stopping Alfresco as a console application The options for starting and stopping Alfresco as a console application can be viewed by clicking on Start | All Programs | Alfresco Enterprise as shown in the following screenshot: The options there are discussed next: 1. Stop Alfresco Server: This option is used to stop the Alfresco server. It stops the MySQL server and the Tomcat application server. 2. Start Alfresco Server: Use this option to start the Alfresco server as a console application. This will start the MySQL server and the Tomcat server. 3. Stop Virtual Server: This option is used to stop the Alfresco Virtual server. It stops the Virtual Tomcat application server. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Installation and Conguration [ 76 ] 4. Start Virtual Server: Use this option to start the Alfresco Virtual server, mainly used for Alfresco WCM. This will start the Virtual Tomcat Server. 5. Alfresco Explorer: This option is used to open Alfresco Web Client in the browser. 6. Alfresco Share: This option is used to open Alfresco Share in the web browser. 7. Alfresco Website: This option is used to open Alfresco's website in the web browser. Alternatively, you can always start, stop, and restart the Tomcat application server and the MySQL database server manually by going to their respective directories. It gives more control to the user. However, the console option gives batch les to perform the start/stop procedures in a consolidated way, relieving the user of any unwanted errors. Installation folder structure Let's take a peek into the installation directory <alfresco_installation_folder> to look at the folders: • alfresco: All of the shortcuts to installing, uninstalling, starting, and stopping Alfresco as a Windows service, and restarting, stopping, and starting of Alfresco as a normal console application from the Start menu of Windows points to this folder. • alf_data: All of the Alfresco content and Lucene indexes are stored in this directory. • amps: All of the AMP extensions les are required to be put here, and then use the apply_amps script to perform the update. • bin: This directory contains the sub-installations of Alfresco. The main installation scripts in the alfresco directory calls the sub-scripts in this folder to start the sub-Alfresco Tomcat component of the installation, creating and setting up the permissions for the Alfresco MySQL database. This folder is very useful for people going for the manual installation rather than using an installer. • extras: Contains additional les such as space template for records management le plan, which can be imported into the Alfresco repository. • java: As is evident by the name, it contains the Java Development Kit. All of the Alfresco development is done using Java as the core programming language. • licenses: This directory contains the licenses for Alfresco, MySQL, Apache, and licenses for the other third-party applications used inside Alfresco. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Chapter 2 [ 77 ] • tomcat: Again, as evident from the name, this directory holds the Tomcat installation where the Alfresco application is deployed as a WAR le. You can see the alfresco.war and share.war les in the webapps sub-folder of this directory. • openoffice: This directory contains the entire portable Ofce suite installation that is used for word processing, spread sheet processing, and so on. • virtual-tomcat: This folder contains the customized Tomcat, which is used for previewing the les in the WCM. • The README le gives information about using CIFS and some troubleshooting tips. You can uninstall the program by clicking on the uninstall.exe application. Conguring Alfresco as a Windows service You can also congure Alfresco as a Windows service in a standard Alfresco/Tomcat Installation. With the default installation, Alfresco is bundled as a web application that launches within Tomcat. To congure Alfresco to run as a Windows service, you need to set up Tomcat to run as a Windows service. To congure Alfresco as a Windows service: 1. Open a command prompt. 2. Go to the <alfresco_installation_folder>/tomcat/bin directory. 3. Use the following commands: service.bat install alfresco tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco DisplayName "Alfresco Server" tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco JvmMs=256 JvmMx=512 JvmSs=64 tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco JavaHome=<alfresco_installation_ folder>/java tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco Environment ALF_HOME=<alfresco_ installation_folder>/ tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco Environment PATH=<alfresco_ installation_folder>/bin;%PATH% tomcat5.exe //US//alfresco StartPath <alfresco_installation_ folder> Startup auto 4. To uninstall the service, go to the <alfresco_installation_folder>/ tomcat/bin and enter the following command: service.bat uninstall alfresco Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Installation and Conguration [ 78 ] 5. To edit your service settings, navigate to <alfresco_installation_ folder>/tomcat/bin and enter the following command: tomcat5w.exe //ES//alfresco 6. To start the service, locate the service named Alfresco Server in your Windows Service control panel and start Alfresco from this control panel. Summary In this chapter we learned: • Alfresco can be installed using a number of different methods as per your preference. • You can install Alfresco as a standard Web Archive (WAR) le to deploy on your existing application server, or as a bundle that includes a precongured Tomcat server, the Alfresco WAR ( alfresco.war), batch les, database setup scripts, and a sample extensions folder. • The various avors of installations mentioned in this chapter are aimed to help you select what is best suited for your purpose and optimize your development experience with Alfresco WCM. The next chapter will take you through creating web forms and web projects and the various aspects. You shall also learn about creating, editing, and updating content and the Advanced Versioning Manager. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Getting Started with Alfresco WCM This chapter introduces the basic concepts of Alfresco Web Content Management from a user's perspective. It demonstrates how to set up and congure the Alfresco Explorer for managing a web project and showcases a sample web publishing scenario. At the end of this module, you will be able to: • Create a web project in Alfresco • Bulk load an existing website content into a web project • Congure the Virtualization Server to enable the previewing of content • Publish the content from User Sandbox to Staging Sandbox after an approval process Understanding the basics of WCM We assume you are familiar with Alfresco Explorer, which is a web-based user interface to the Alfresco WCM. Before beginning the tutorial, you must ensure that: 1. The Alfresco ECM and WCM applications are installed. 2. The Alfresco Web Server is running. 3. The Alfresco Virtualization Server is running. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Getting Started with Alfresco WCM [ 80 ] Log in to Alfresco WCM web interface Using any web browser, you can connect to the Alfresco Explorer application. You will be able to manage users, security, content, business rules, and everything related to the enterprise content stored in Alfresco through the web client. 1. Access Alfresco web interface using the URL http://localhost:8080/ alfresco . Or use the URL as per your installation. 2. Log in as Administrator using the default credentials: ° Username: admin ° Password: admin 3. Click on Login. Once you log in, you will notice My Alfresco Dashboard as the home page. My Alfresco Dashboard The My Alfresco Dashboard is a congurable area where you can select from a list of precongured dashlets and components to construct your own page. To start conguring your dashboard, click on the Congure icon given in My Alfresco Dashboard as shown in the following screenshot. The Congure Dashboard Wizard will open up allowing you to select the dashboard layout and dashlets: When conguring the dashboard, each component you select is displayed as a pane on the dashboard. The available components are as follows: Component Description Getting Started This displays helpful information for getting started, including links to an Alfresco demonstration, a feature tour, and the Alfresco online help system. Descriptions of some common tasks you may want to perform in Alfresco are also included. My Tasks To Do Here all incomplete tasks assigned to you are listed. In this pane, you can manage and reassign your tasks. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> Chapter 3 [ 81 ] Component Description All Active Tasks The All Active Tasks component displays all active tasks—those assigned to us and those assigned to other users. In this pane you manage and reassign tasks. My Pooled Tasks All pooled tasks relevant to us are displayed here. These will be pooled tasks assigned directly to us or tasks assigned to a group that you belong to. In this pane you can manage and reassign your tasks. My Completed Tasks The My Completed Tasks pane displays all tasks that you have completed. In this pane you can view and cancel workows related to a completed task. OpenSearch This component displays the OpenSearch pane on your dashboard, which provides the ability to search across multiple repositories. This is the same search pane that is displayed in the sidebar. My Document List The My Document List component displays the documents within your home space. In this pane you can view the document details, preview the document, and perform various actions on the content item without leaving the dashboard, including Check Out, Check In, Update, Delete, Edit Details, and Download. Use the document type lter in this pane to specify the information to display: All Items, Word Documents, HTML Documents, PDF Documents, or Recently Modied. My Spaces List This displays the current repository. In this pane you can navigate the repository from the dashboard and perform various actions, including creating spaces, uploading content, and viewing content items. Use the lter in this pane to specify the type of information to display: All Items, Spaces, Documents, My Items, or Recently Modied. My Tasks Displays all incomplete tasks assigned to you. In this pane you can lter the tasks by due date (Due Today, Next 7 days, No due date, Overdue) and manage the tasks. This component is similar to the My Tasks To Do component but with a different user interface. My Web Forms This displays the web projects you have been invited to and the web forms associated with each project. The My Web Forms pane enables you to preview a web project, create web content from a web form, and display the Sandbox view for a project—all from the dashboard. My Web Files All the web projects you have been invited to and the Modied Items list from your sandbox for each project are listed here. This pane enables us to edit and preview individual content items, preview a web project, and display the Sandbox view for a project—all from the dashboard. Web projects are created in the Company Home | Web Projects space. This space is automatically created if either WCM was included with the base install of Alfresco or if WCM is installed separately. Download from Wow! eBook <www.wowebook.com> . interface. My Web Forms This displays the web projects you have been invited to and the web forms associated with each project. The My Web Forms pane enables you to preview a web project, create web. managing a web project and showcases a sample web publishing scenario. At the end of this module, you will be able to: • Create a web project in Alfresco • Bulk load an existing website content. Alfresco Web Client in the browser. 6. Alfresco Share: This option is used to open Alfresco Share in the web browser. 7. Alfresco Website: This option is used to open Alfresco's website