Pre-Installation Tasks

Mount the Space Storage Volume

The toplevel directory /spacedata contains the mount points for all space volumes. By default, the mount point vol01 has already been created by the td-hostserver RPM package. Note that it must be owned by the user that the Apache HTTP Server runs under (usually apache).

You need to create a dedicated file system that provides the requirements outlined in chapter Storage Requirements.

Mount the file system and create the respective mount entry in /etc/fstab to enable automatic mounting of the file system at bootup. Please consult your Operating System documentation for details on how to perform this step.

Warning

The space volume’s file system must be mounted to /spacedata/vol01, not /spacedata, to make it possible to mount additional volumes underneath the /spacedata directory, if required.

Verifying File Locking

The Space Storage Volume must provide reliable file locking. This is not always the case with certain network mounted (NFS) volumes, which should be verified before usage.

TDLogTest is a tool which simulates the concurrent access and locking patterns generated by multiple TeamDrive Clients. This tool can be used to test whether file locking support is compatible with the TeamDrive Hosting Service.

Note

The test cannot confirm with 100% certainty, whether an NFS volume is compatible with TeamDrive. However, failure of the test indicates that a volume is unfit to servie as /spacedata on a Host Server.

The following is a step-by-step guide to running TDLogTest:

  1. Download the package from:
  1. Create a test directory on the Space Volume, for example:
mkdir /spacedata/vol01/TDLogTest
  1. Enter this directory and extract the content of the tar archive, for example:
tar zxvf ~/TDLogTest-1485.tar.gz

4. Edit TDLogTest.cfg, set the path in TDLOGS to the directory to be used for testing.

  1. Initialize the test directory by running:
./initTDLogTest
  1. Start the test by running:
./startTDLogTest

The script spawns a (definable) number of reader and writer background processes which log their progress to STDOUT. Errors will be logged to TDLogTest.err by default. To stop the test, call ./stopTDLogTest.

Keep the test running for a while. Try using different values for readers and writers as well, by stopping the test and passing different options to startTDLogTest. Also try creating multiple test directories and spawning more readers/writers using a different location.

If there are multiple Host Server instances connected to the same NFS volume then the test must be performed from multiple instances simultaneously, after the initial test with one instance succeeded.

Installing SSL certificates

The default Apache HTTP Server installation ships with self-signed SSL certificates for testing purposes. We strongly recommend to purchase and install proper SSL certificates and keys and to adjust the configuration in file /etc/httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf accordingly before moving the server into production.

The exact installation process depends on how you obtain or create the SSL key and certificate, please refer to the respective installation instructions provided by your certificate issuer.

Starting the Host Server Instance

After all configuration steps have been performed, we can start the TeamDrive Services to conclude the initial installation/configuration.

Starting td-hostserver

To activate the yvvad-based td-hostserver background task you have to start the service using the provided init script.

The configuration file /etc/td-hosting.conf defines how this process is run. You usually don’t have to modify these settings.

To start the td-hostserver program, use the service command as user root:

[root@hostserver ~]# service td-hostserver start
Starting TeamDrive Hosting Services:                       [  OK  ]

Use the status option to the service command to verify that the service has started:

[root@hostserver ~]# service td-hostserver status
yvvad (pid  2506) is running...

If td-hostserver does not start (process yvvad is not running), check the log file /var/log/td-hostserver.log for errors. See chapter Troubleshooting for details.

Starting the Apache HTTP Server

Now the Apache HTTP Server can be started, which provides the TeamDrive Host Server functionality (via mod_pspace) as well as access to the TeamDrive Hosting Service Administration Console and API (via mod_yvva).

You can start the service manually using the following command:

[root@hostserver ~]# service httpd start

Warning

At this point, the Host Server’s web server is answering incoming requests from any web client that can connect to its address. For security purposes, you should not make it accessible from the public Internet until you have concluded the initial configuration, e.g. by blocking external accesses using a firewall.

Check the log file /var/log/httpd/error_log and /var/log/mod_yvva.log for startup messages and possible errors:

[notice] mod_yvva 1.3.8 (Aug 30 2016 11:57:45) loaded
[notice] Logging (=error) to: /var/log/mod_yvva.log
[notice] Apache/2.2.31 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.31 OpenSSL/1.0.1k-fips configured
-- resuming normal operations
[notice] mod_pspace 1.7.10 Loaded; Build Nov 17 2016 16:55:00;
Crash-Reporting-Disabled

Please consult chapter Troubleshooting if there is an error when starting the service.

Note

You may observe Admin API Errors like the following one:

Admin API, Error loading parameters: Host Server setup has not been completed

These errors can be ignored at this stage. They are caused by the fact that the Host Server has not been configured and registered with a Registration Server yet. This step will be described in the following chapter.