Starting and stopping GroupServer

Authors:Michael JasonSmith; Richard Waid;
Contact:Michael JasonSmith <mpj17@onlinegroups.net>
Date:2015-03-31
Organization:GroupServer.org
Copyright:This document is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License by OnlineGroups.net.

Introduction

In this document we present a quick introduction to starting GroupServer. First you have to install GroupServer, which is covered in the groupserver-install.txt file in the docs/ directory of your GroupServer folder, or online. Here we will cover trying out GroupServer, and running GroupServer. Finally, we try and deal with some issues, and problems.

Trying out GroupServer

The first time you fire-up GroupServer it is reassuring to see all the debugging information, in case there is an error.

Starting GroupServer for the first time

Once GroupServer has been installed you should be able to start it with the command in the GroupServer installation directory:

$ ./bin/instance fg

This starts the Zope instance, which runs GroupServer, in foreground mode.

Access the ZMI

Generally most configuration can be done from the Web interface of GroupServer. However the Zope Management Interface (ZMI) can be used to perform some low-level tasks, and accessing it is a good indication that everything is working correctly. The ZMI is accessed by visiting http://{zope_host}:{zope_port}/manage:

zope_host:
The name of the Zope host, that you set in the config.cfg file.
zope_port:
The port of the Zope host, that you set in the config.cfg file.

If the defaults are unaltered then the URL for the ZMI will be <http://localhost:8080/manage/>. If all is well you will be prompted for a user-name and password. These will be the zope_admin and zope_password that you set in the config.cfg.

In the ZMI you should see a groupserver folder. Within that a Contents folder, leading to an initial_site, groups and finally initial_group.

Access your site

If you can access the ZMI without any problems then the next thing to test is if you can access your site. If you have configured DNS or your local host file correctly, you should be able to access your site at http://${host}:${port}:

host:
The name of the GroupServer host, that you set in the config.cfg file.
port:
The port that GroupServer is listening to, that you set in the config.cfg file.

If you left the defaults unaltered then the URL for your GroupServer site will be <http://gstest:8080/>.

Log in

Log in as an administrator by clicking the Sign in link and entering the admin_email and admin_password you set in the config.cfg file.

Stop the test

To stop testing type Control-c in the terminal where GroupServer is running.

Running GroupServer

Running GroupServer on a more permanent basis requires starting the Zope instance as a demon, and keeping a track of the log file.

Start the Zope instance as a demon by running the following command from the GroupServer installation directory:

$ ./bin/instance start

Stop the demon by running the following command:

$ ./bin/instance stop

The log file

The log file is var/log/instance.log, located in the GroupServer directory.

You can change the logging level, and log-file rotation, by setting parameters of the [instance] section of the instance.cfg file in the GroupServer directory. The documentation for zope2instance details the available options. Run buildout once you have made the changes:

$ ./bin/buildout -N

Then stop GroupServer and restart it.

Issues, and problems

Please, ask questions and make comments in the GroupServer Development group, or in the gsdevel IRC channel on Freenode (irc://irc.freenode.net/#gsdevel). The log file will usually contain relevant information, including copies of any errors.

Virtual machines

With virtual machines it can be difficult to connect from your desktop — which has a Web browser — to GroupServer running on the hosted machine. The documentation for your chosen virtual environment should cover how to expose the network interface for a hosted Web service, such as GroupServer.