Installing GridSphere

The instructions for installing the OGCE Grid portlets into GridSphere are given in the navigation link, Installing the Portal. They are briefly reviewed here. If you choose the GridSphere option, first set up your environment and install GridSphere.

1. Download Apache Maven 1.0.2 and Apache Ant 1.6.x.
2. Download GridSphere 2.0.x and Tomcat 5.0.x or Tomcat 5.5.x.
3. If you use Tomcat 5.5.x, you need to also get the Java 1.4 compatibility patch.
4. If you use Tomcat 5.5.x, you need to copy the Tomcat 5.0.x ant.jar and ant-launcher.jar to 5.5.x's common/lib directory.
5. Set CATALINA_HOME and ANT_HOME environment variables.
6. Run "ant install" in the GridSphere source directory.
7. Edit the tomcat-users.xml to add the gridsphere user and manager role.

1. Download and unpack the OGCE release 2
2. Edit the project.properties file
3. Run "maven gridSphereDeployAll".

When installation is complete, (re)start your Tomcat server and point your browser at http://localhost:8080/gridsphere. This assumes of course that you run Tomcat on localhost using port 8080 (the Tomcat default). If not, substitute the appropriate machine IP address or DNS name. You should see the following screen.

Logging In and Getting Started

GridSphere comes with the default "root" account. No password is required for initial login. You should see the following view immediately after logging in.

For more information on configuring accounts and managing your GridSphere portal, see the GridSphere Project Documentation page.

Adding OGCE Portlets

The OGCE Portlets are available but undeployed immediately after the build. To verify that they were deployed correctly, click the "Administration" tab. You should see the GPIR Browser, Proxy Manager, etc, in the right-hand column.

You are now ready to deploy the portlets. Under the "Administration" tab, click the "Groups" subheading, next to the "Portlets","Users" links. You will get a view similar to the one below.

Click "Create new group" to go to a rather long page show in the next two screen shots. Type the group name and select permissions, then select the portlets that you want to add.

When selecting portlets, the OGCE portlet checkboxes will be at the end of the page. Select one or more of these and save. NOTE You must choose the Proxy Manager portlet if you want to use GridFTP and Job Submission. When you save, and are prompted for a layout, click on the "Create Template Layout" link (GridSphere 2.0.*), or enter the same name as the group name, then click the "Create Template Layout" button (GridSphere 2.1.*).

Finally, return to the "Welcome" tab. You should now see your newly created group in the right column ("OGCE" in screen shot). Click its checkbox and save. A tab matching the group name ("OGCE") should appear on the top navigation bar.

Click the OGCE tab. You should see your selected portlets as subheadings on the menu bar.

Getting a Grid Credential

None of the Grid portlets will be active until you acquire a credential from a MyProxy server. You must obtain a Grid user certificate for your Grid installation and store it in a MyProxy server using a command similar to the following:

[shell-prompt> myproxy-init -l username -s proxyserver.host.name

Click "Get New Proxy" to get the view similar to the screen below. Fill out the form to fetch a credential.

After you have successfully fetched a credential, the JobSubmit/GRAM and GridFTP portlets will become active. Click the "Reload" buttons on these if necessary to get them into an active state.

Running Remote Commands

The Job Submission portlet allows you to run simple remote commands and track their status. This portlet is intended to illustrate basic Grid tasks. After you have obtained a credential and activated the Job Submit portlet, you can fill out the form to submit basic commands. Click the "Check Status" button to get the command's standard output, or redirect it to a file on the specified host.

Using GridFTP Portlets

The GridFTP portlets will also become active after you have obtained a credential. Use "Reload" if necessary to activate the portlet. When active, you will be prompted to give the names of either one or two GridFTP servers. The two-host view allows you to display files side-by-side. After you have selected the desired host(s), you will be able to browse remote files and upload/download files.

Setting Up GPIR

Click the GPIR portlet subheading to verify that these work correctly. To customize the default view, see the accompanying document, GPIR Browser Configuration. This assumes that you have separately installed and configured GPIR. This is part of the GridPort 3.0 release.

Miscellaneous Topics