[Dspace-general] setting up a DSPace server

[Bram Luyten]

Dear Eric,

we have implemented and managed DSpace 1.3.x and 1.4.2 for our clients on
both linux//unix and Windows boxes.

We would really recommend you to opt for a unix//linux installation for
reasons including the following:
* In our experience, most developers and people run DSpace on these
installations, making all documentation, bugfixes, ... more elaborated for
unix compared to the Windows versions.
* There are some known issues which occur on a Windows installation such as
errors due to different processes reading/writing the same files.

Some more answers on your questions inline:

On Tue, Apr 8, 2008 at 9:48 PM, Eric Loehr <eloehr at email.smith.edu> wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> We currently subscribe to a NITLE hosted DSpace instance and are
> considering whether we might want to/be able to run our own DSpace server
> locally. We're going to need more disk space than would be cost-effective
> from the hosted service, and would like more control over things.    I'm
> about to talk with our campus IT folks about this and would like to be able
> to tell them what sort of help from them and/or expertise we'd need to set
> up and run our own server, so I'm hoping to get some answers to a few
> questions:
>
> I think we'd prefer to go with a unix server, but could consider a Windows
> box.   I can do some basic things in unix (I've worked with permissions on
> html files, editing config files, templates, setting up chron jobs, etc.on
> our SFX, Verde, and ALEPH hosted servers ), but have never run a unix
> server.
>
> Can DSpace run easily alongside other applications on a server, or does it
> need its own dedicated server?


==> DSpace can easily run alongside other applications on a server, but we
suggest using different user accounts for different applications (at least
on a linux server) and installation of a tomcat which will only be used for
the DSpace application.

Keep in mind that a large repository or a repository with many visitors can
require quite some resources (memory, diskspace, bandwidth, ..). So you
should be able to monitor this usage in order to prevent issues in this
area.


>
>
> How difficult is it to set up DSpace on a unix (or Windows) server? What
> knowledge would be needed beyond what I described above?


==> The above tasks combined with the DSpace installation docs should be
sufficient, although we've experienced some other repositories which were
not completely correctly installed. As a consequence, it was necessary to
clean up the data afterwards. Sometimes these kind of issues can get quite
complex.


>
> How much, if any, java programming experience is essential? (I've done
> lots of html editing and some very basic PHP and javascript, but I'm not a
> programmer).


==> This depends on how good the repository suits your requirements. Changes
to the user interface can be done with only html knowledge when done
carefully. More advanced customizations than style will usually require
knowledge of java programming.


>
> Once DSpace is set up, how much work is necessary to keep it updated?


==> Depends on how many customizations are applied to the installation.
Usually, upgrades of the DSpace software can be applied without to much
problems if there are little to none customizations. This should of course
always be tested first on a test-server.

DSpace 1.5, with it's Maven build system, is inteded as a huge leap forward
in terms of upgrading.



>
> What I'm hoping is that our IT folks can help set up the server and the
> DSpace installation and maintain the server OS, and that I can do the DSpace
> maintenance. Any recommendations and/or advice would be greatly appreciated.


==> In any case, if you run into trouble, these mailinglists are a great
resource to get help for bugs or issues. If you would seek custom
development, consultancy or other services, there are some companies (like
ours ;) who provide this.


>
>
> thanks very much - -
>
> Eric
>
>
>
>
>
> Eric Loehr
> Library Systems Manager
> Smith College Libraries
> (413) 585-2969
> eloehr at email.smith.edu
>
> Smith College official correspondence
>
>
>
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> Dspace-general at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/dspace-general
>



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