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Administration Guide: Custom Installation Package for Unix

Contents

System Requirements

  1. Java SDK

    actiTIME requires Java SDK 5.0 or higher which may be obtained at
    http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.

    The link above points to the latest release of JDK. To get a previous JDK release use the following link: J2SE 5.0.

    actiTIME does not work with GNU Java that comes with some of linux systems. So please make sure that you have Sun JDK installed. Please refer to the corresponding instruction describing how to install Sun JDK:


  2. Apache Tomcat Application Server

    actiTIME requires Tomcat 4.1 or higher which may be obtained at
    http://tomcat.apache.org/index.html

  3. MySQL

    If you want actiTIME to work with MySQL database, it will need MySQL 5.x installed (you can download MySQL installation package from
    http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/).

Installing actiTIME

  1. Extract the installation package (for actiTIME Basic it is named actitime33_unix.tar.gz) into a local directory. Subdirectory 'actitime' will appear. Note that if you extract the archive into the '<tomcat home>/webapps' you will only need to restart Tomcat server. Otherwise you will have to configure Tomcat to make it able to run actiTIME in another directory.

  2. Enter the 'actitime' directory.

  3. Create a MySQL user account with all privileges on the database that will be created during the subsequent steps of installation. The default name of this database is 'actitime'. You can choose any other name, but then you have to specify this name as a parameter for the installation script.

  4. Launch setup_mysql.sh.

    setup_mysql.sh has the following launch format:

    bash ./setup_mysql.sh [-mysqlpath <MYSQLPATH>]
                          [-username <USERNAME>] [-password <PASSWORD>]
                          [-host <HOST>] [-port <PORT>] [-dbname <DBNAME>]

    where

    <MYSQLPATH> - The path to the MySQL installation directory. If not specified, setup_mysql.sh will ask for it when running.

    Setup script will then search for MySQL executable file at the following location: <MYSQLPATH> + "/mysql".

    <USERNAME> - the MySQL user name under which actiTIME will create and use the database. If not specified, setup_mysql.sh will ask for it when running.

    <PASSWORD> - the password of user <USERNAME>. If not specified, setup_mysql.sh will ask for it when running.

    <HOST> - host name of the the server where MySQL server runs. If not specified the local host is assumed. Required if actiTIME has to use a remote MySQL database.

    <PORT> - port on which MySQL server is running. If not specified the default MySQL port will be used.

    <DBNAME> - the name of the database to be created. If not specified 'actitime' will be used as the database name.

    NOTE: If the script finds the previous version of the actiTIME database then it will back up the database to the actitime.mysql4.sql.backup_[current date] file.

  5. Make necessary activities to the Tomcat application server if you want to run actiTIME in non-default configuration (different port, virtual host etc.).

    1. If you want to configure actiTIME to work via secure connections (HTTPS) you can use Tomcat's facilities, but it will significantly decrease the system performace since Tomcat's HTTPS module is built on Java and requires considerable computational resources.

      It is better to use Tomcat together with Apache web server (http://httpd.apache.org/). In this case secure requests will be processed without serious loss of performance. Apache HTTP server will handle HTTPS requests, decrypt them and then transfer decrypted data forwards to Tomcat. To make it work this way see the Tomcat and Apache documentation.

    2. If you want to run Tomcat with "-security" option, you will need to add special permissions to $CATALINA_HOME/conf/catalina.policy file (or $CATALINA_HOME/conf/tomcat.policy depending on the Tomcat version). Set of permissions depends on Tomcat version and its configuration.

      Examples of lines to add for different server versions are listed below:

      Tomcat 4.1.x:

      grant codeBase "file:<PATH>/actitime/-" {
        // Access to Tomcat libraries
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}server${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}common${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";
        // Database access permissions
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<HOST>:<PORT>", "connect,resolve";

        // actiTIME requires permissions to access an SMTP server to send email notifications.
        // Please replace <SMTP_HOST> below with name or IP address of your SMTP server.
        // It must be equal to the one specified in actiTIME General Settings.
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<SMTP_HOST>:25", "connect,resolve";

        // Access to system properties
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.coyote.USE_CUSTOM_STATUS_MSG_IN_HEADER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "catalina.home", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "file.encoding", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.runtime.version", "read";

        // Network and Runtime permissions
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "getClassLoader";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessDeclaredMembers";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.security.provider";

        //File permissions
        permission java.io.FilePermission "<PATH>${file.separator}actitime${file.separator}img${file.separator}custom${file.separator}*", "read,delete,write";
        // Optional permissions that would increase actiTIME performance
        permission java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission "suppressAccessChecks";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.util.logging.resources";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.coyote.http11";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.coyote";
      };

      Tomcat 5.5.x:

      grant codeBase "file:<PATH>/actitime/-" {
        // Access to Tomcat logs (necessary to allow Tomcat to rotate its logs)
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs", "read";
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs${file.separator}-", "write";

        // Database access permissions
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<HOST>:<PORT>", "connect,resolve";

        // actiTIME requires permissions to access an SMTP server to send email notifications.
        // Please replace <SMTP_HOST> below with name or IP address of your SMTP server.
        // It must be equal to the one specified in actiTIME General Settings.
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<SMTP_HOST>:25", "connect,resolve";

        // Access to Tomcat libraries
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}server${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}common${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";
        // Access to system properties
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.jasper.runtime.BodyContentImpl.LIMIT_BUFFER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.coyote.USE_CUSTOM_STATUS_MSG_IN_HEADER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "catalina.home", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "file.encoding", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.runtime.version", "read";

        // Network and Runtime permissions
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "getClassLoader";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessDeclaredMembers";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.compiler";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.security.provider";

        //File permissions
        permission java.io.FilePermission "<PATH>${file.separator}actitime${file.separator}img${file.separator}custom${file.separator}*", "read,delete,write";
        // Optional permissions that would increase actiTIME performance
        permission java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission "suppressAccessChecks";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.lang";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.util.logging.resources";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.util";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.coyote";
      };

      You will also need to add the following permission to the existing block "file:${catalina.home}/bin/tomcat-juli.jar" in the
      $CATALINA_HOME/conf/catalina.policy

      permission java.io.FilePermission "<PATH>${file.separator}actitime${file.separator}WEB-INF${file.separator}classes${file.separator}logging.properties", "read";

      Tomcat 6.0.x:

      grant codeBase "file:<PATH>/actitime/-" {
        // Access to Tomcat libraries
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";

        // Access to Tomcat logs (necessary to allow Tomcat to rotate its logs)
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs", "read";
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs${file.separator}-", "write";

        // Database access permissions
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<HOST>:<PORT>", "connect,resolve";

        // actiTIME requires permissions to access an SMTP server to send email notifications.
        // Please replace <SMTP_HOST> below with name or IP address of your SMTP server.
        // It must be equal to the one specified in actiTIME General Settings.
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<SMTP_HOST>:25", "connect,resolve";

        // Access to system properties
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.jasper.runtime.BodyContentImpl.LIMIT_BUFFER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.coyote.USE_CUSTOM_STATUS_MSG_IN_HEADER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "catalina.home", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "file.encoding", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.runtime.version", "read";

        // Network and Runtime permissions
        permission java.net.NetPermission "specifyStreamHandler";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "getClassLoader";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessDeclaredMembers";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.session";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.connector";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.core";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.util";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.javax.servlet";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.util.logging.resources";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.tomcat.util.buf";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.coyote";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.security.provider";

        //File permissions
        permission java.io.FilePermission "<PATH>${file.separator}actitime${file.separator}img${file.separator}custom${file.separator}*", "read,delete,write";
        // Optional permissions that would increase actiTIME performance
        permission java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission "suppressAccessChecks";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.lang";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.util";
      };

      Tomcat 7.0.x:

      grant codeBase "file:<PATH>/actitime/-" {
        // Access to Tomcat libraries
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}lib${file.separator}-", "read";

        // Access to Tomcat logs (necessary to allow Tomcat to rotate its logs)
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs", "read";
        permission java.io.FilePermission "${catalina.home}${file.separator}logs${file.separator}-", "write";

        // Database access permissions
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<HOST>:<PORT>", "connect,resolve";

        // actiTIME requires permissions to access an SMTP server to send email notifications.
        // Please replace <SMTP_HOST> below with name or IP address of your SMTP server.
        // It must be equal to the one specified in actiTIME General Settings.
        permission java.net.SocketPermission "<SMTP_HOST>:25", "connect,resolve";

        // Access to system properties
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.jasper.runtime.BodyContentImpl.LIMIT_BUFFER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "org.apache.coyote.USE_CUSTOM_STATUS_MSG_IN_HEADER", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "catalina.home", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "file.encoding", "read";
        permission java.util.PropertyPermission "java.runtime.version", "read";

        // Network and Runtime permissions
        permission java.net.NetPermission "specifyStreamHandler";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "getClassLoader";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessDeclaredMembers";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.session";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.connector";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.core";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina.util";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.javax.servlet";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.util.logging.resources";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.tomcat.util.buf";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.coyote";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.sun.security.provider";

        //File permissions
        permission java.io.FilePermission "<PATH>${file.separator}actitime${file.separator}img${file.separator}custom${file.separator}*", "read,delete,write";
        // Optional permissions that would increase actiTIME performance
        permission java.lang.reflect.ReflectPermission "suppressAccessChecks";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.org.apache.jasper.runtime";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "accessClassInPackage.org.apache.catalina";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.lang";
        permission java.lang.RuntimePermission "defineClassInPackage.java.util";
      };

      where

      <PATH> - path to the actiTIME directory or '${catalina.home}/webapps' if actiTIME is installed to webapps directory.

      <SMTP_HOST> - host name or IP of the the SMTP server used to send mail.

      <HOST> - host name or IP of the the server where MySQL server runs.

      <PORT> - port on which MySQL server is running (MySQL uses port 3306 by default).

  6. Restart Tomcat. Now you can access actiTIME via web browser (http://<server name>:8080/actitime if Tomcat is configured by default and actiTIME is installed into the '<tomcat home>\webapps' directory).

    Try to login as user 'admin' with password 'manager'.

  7. Configuring mail server parameters

    After you successfully logged in actiTIME, go to Settings --> General Settings and scroll down to the end of the page. You will find the Email Notifications sections. Here you will need to specify your mail server parameters in order to make actiTIME email notifications work.

    Please specify correct values for the following mandatory fields:

    • Outgoing mail server (SMTP) - name or address of your mail server.
    • port - mail server port (usually 25)
    • Address of your actiTIME installation - address you used to login to actiTIME on the previous step (ex. http://<server name>:8080/actiTIME). This address is required to enable links from email messages back to actiTIME
    • Send error notifications to - email address of your system or network administrator who will be notified if actiTIME detects issues when sending email messages.

    If you don't know what are the correct values please consult your System or Network Administrator.

Upgrading actiTIME from a previous version

We have done our best to ensure that your data stays safe. However it is strongly recommended that you make a backup of actiTIME files prior to upgrading actiTIME.

It is also recomended that you backup actiTIME database. Please refer to the backup instruction.

  1. Stop the Tomcat server.

  2. actiTIME no longer supports Java SDK 1.4, so please make sure Java 2 SDK 5.0 or higher is installed. Otherwise you should upgrade it. You can check the installed Java version using the following command:

    java -version

  3. Copy the installation package file (for actiTIME Basic it is named actitime20_unix.tar.gz) to the parent directory of the 'actitime' directory (directory where actiTIME is installed). Unpack the file. This will overwrite the files of your existing actiTIME installation with their new versions.

  4. Enter the 'actitime' directory.

  5. Launch setup_mysql.sh.

    setup_mysql.sh has the following launch format:

    bash ./setup_mysql.sh [-mysqlpath <MYSQLPATH>]

    where

    <MYSQLPATH> - The path to the MySQL installation directory. If not specified, setup_mysql.sh will ask for it when running.

    Setup script will then search for MySQL executable file at the following location: <MYSQLPATH> + "/mysql".

    Prior to updating database structure the setup script backups database and saves data in a file in the 'actitime' directory. Name of the backup file is
    actitime.mysql4.sql.backup_<YYYYMMDDhhmmss>.

    Where <YYYYMMDDhhmmss> is date and time when script was run.

  6. Delete all files from the Tomcat cache directory
    <tomcat>/work/<Engine Name>/<Host Name>/actitime/

    Where

    <tomcat> is the directory where Tomcat is installed.

    <Engine Name> - name of the Tomcat engine configured for your installation. Usually is 'Standalone' or 'Catalina'.

    <Host Name> - name of the virtual host configured for your Tomcat installation.

  7. Start the Tomcat server.

  8. Configuring mail server parameters

    Login to actiTIME, go to Settings --> General Settings and scroll down to the end of the page. You will find the Email Notifications sections. Here you will need to specify your mail server parameters in order to make actiTIME email notifications work.

    Please specify correct values for the following mandatory fields:

    • Outgoing mail server (SMTP) - name or address of your mail server.
    • port - mail server port (usually 25)
    • Address of your actiTIME installation - address you used to login to actiTIME on the previous step (ex. http://<server name>:8080/actiTIME). This address is required to enable links from email messages back to actiTIME
    • Send error notifications to - email address of your system or network administrator who will be notified if actiTIME detects issues when sending email messages.

    If you don't know what are the correct values please consult your System or Network Administrator.

Database Backup Instructions

Backup procedure:

  1. Open CMD

  2. Find the folder where MySQL is installed and go to the 'bin' folder.

  3. Run the following command:

    mysqldump -u <username> -p<password> [-h <host>] [-P <port>] --protocol=tcp <dbname> > actitime_data.sql

    where

    square brackets [] indicate that the enclosed parameter is optional. Square brackets themselves must not be entered.

    <username> is the name of the user who has all the necessary rights to administer the database (you can also use 'root' for it).

    <password> is the password of this user (please note that there should be NO space between '-p' and 'password').

    <host> is the host name of the the server where MySQL server runs. If not specified the local host is assumed.

    <port> is the port used by MySQL. If not specified the default MySQL port will be used.

    <dbname> is the name of the MySQL database used by actiTIME. If you did not specify a custom database name when installing actiTIME, specify 'actitime' as the database name.

    Executing this command you will create a dump of your database and save it in the file 'actitime_data.sql'.

Restore procedure:

  1. Stop the Tomcat server.

  2. Open CMD

  3. Find the folder where MySQL is installed and go to the 'bin' folder.

  4. Run the following command:

    mysqladmin -f -u <username> -p<password> -h <host> -P <port> --protocol=tcp drop <dbname>

    After this command the current data will be dropped.

    mysqladmin -f -u <username> -p<password> [-h <host>] [-P <port>] --protocol=tcp create <dbname>

    mysql -u <username> -p<password> [-h <host>] [-P <port>] --protocol=tcp <dbname> < actitime_data.sql

    where

    square brackets [] indicate that the enclosed parameter is optional. Square brackets themselves must not be entered.

    <username> is the name of the user who has all the necessary rights to administer the database (you can also use 'root' for it).

    <password> is the password of this user (please note that there should be NO space between '-p' and 'password')

    <host> is the host name of the the server where MySQL server runs. If not specified the local host is assumed.

    <port> is the port used by MySQL. If not specified the default MySQL port will be used.

    <dbname> is the name of the MySQL database used by actiTIME. If you did not specify a custom database name when installing actiTIME, specify 'actitime' as the database name.

  5. Start the Tomcat server.

Uninstalling actiTIME

  1. Stop the Tomcat server.

  2. If you would like to remove the actiTIME database with all the data, enter the 'actitime' directory and execute command:

    bash ./cleanup_mysql.sh. [-mysqlpath <MYSQLPATH>]

    where

    <MYSQLPATH> - The path to the MySQL installation directory. If not specified, cleanup_mysql.sh will ask for it when running.

    Cleanup script will then search for MySQL executable file at the following location: <MYSQLPATH> + "/mysql".

    cleanup_mysql.sh completely deletes the database created during installation.

  3. Delete the 'actitime' directory and all its subdirectories.

See Also

Support

Online Demo

Find out how actiTIME works at the online demo sites. There is no registration needed — you will be able to log in as one of the pre-configured users.

View demo