Making IsoStar Data Available via the CCDC Apache HTTP Server

The installation DVD provides the option to install an Apache HTTP server for IsoStar that is pre-configured for ease of use. We would recommend that users install the provided Apache HTTP server. If not installed with the other IsoStar software and data components, the Apache HTTP server can be installed later via IsoInstall script on the installation DVD.

Once installed, the CCDC Apache server can be started via the command:

/net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar/APACHE/bin/ccdc_apache start

/net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar/APACHE/bin/ccdc_apache stop

Once running, the IsoStar home page can be accessed by the hostname and port number entered during the APACHE server setup, for example:

http://myservername:8081

Making IsoStar Data Available via your own HTTP Server

1. Installing an HTTP server
2. Configuring your HTTP server for use with IsoStar Note: Access to IsoStar must be restricted to users at your site only.

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   1. Installing an HTTP server

   If you need an HTTP server but do not have one then you can use Apache. This software can be obtained from the Apache Web site.

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   2. Configuring an HTTP server for use with IsoStar

   Note: this section does not provide step-by-step instructions for configuring your HTTP server but hopefully provides the information necessary to perform this task.
   • Root directory for IsoStar is

        /net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar

     Files and subdirectories in this directory must be accessible to the server.

   • You must allow symbolic links to be followed within /net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar

   • Access must be restricted to users at your site only.

   • The IsoStar home page is

        /net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar/html/isostar.html

     If the IsoStar root directory (/net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar) is to be the root directory of your server (DocumentRoot) then access the IsoStar home page as:

        http://your.server/html/isostar.html

   • If /net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar is not to be the root directory of your server then you may wish to set up an alias of:

        /isostar/   /net/storage02/export/scratch/isostar/ISOSTAR_V2.2.2/isostar/

     The path to the IsoStar home page will then be:

        http://your.server/isostar/html/isostar.html

   • You should add the following mime type specification to your server configuration files:

        chemical/x-isostar  istr

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   3. Install the IsoStar CGI Script

   IsoStar requires a CGI script to be executed via your HTTP server. The script enables users to hyperlink from IsoStar scatterplots to CSD and PDB entries.

   If you do not already have the ability to run CGI scripts via your server then you will need to specify a script directory with the ScriptAlias directive in the conf file. The ScriptAlias directive is detailed in Run-time configuration directives section of the Apache Reference Manual.

   To install the IsoStar CGI script:

   1. Copy the file

         <DVDROM>/httpd/cgi/isostar_server.cgi

      from the installation DVD-ROM to the script directory of your HTTP server where <DVDROM> is the mount point of the installation DVD-ROM.

      Check that permissions for this file allow any user to execute it.

   2. Edit isostar_server.cgi as follows:
      • Change ISOSTAR_ROOT to be:

           <isosoft>/isostar

        where <isosoft> is the location of the isostar directory containing an installation of the IsoStar software for the UNIX platform on which the HTTP server is running.

      • Edit <isosoft>/isostar/bin/xmlgen if necessary :
        • Check the contents of

             <isosoft>/isostar/bin/xmlgen

          This will contain a line beginning

             CCDC_TOOLKIT_ASER_DATABASE=

          If there is no directory path specified on this line, or if it is incorrect, then change it to indicate the directory that contains your CSD database files. This is likely to be equivalent to $CSDHOME/csd. Specify the full path to this directory and the base filename of the current CSD database it contains. For example:

          CCDC_TOOLKIT_ASER_DATABASE=/usr/local/cambridge/csd/as532be

   To test the CGI script, try accessing the following URLs:
   • http://your.server/<cgi-bin>/isostar_server.cgi?check
   • http://your.server/<cgi-bin>/isostar_server.cgi?check_license
   • http://your.server/<cgi-bin>/isostar_server.cgi?csd_xml+aabhtz
   • http://your.server/<cgi-bin>/isostar_server.cgi?pdb+0FOH01

   Replace your.server with the address of your HTTP server and <cgi-bin> with the location of the directory containing isostar_server.cgi (relative to the top directory of the HTTP server).

   The first two URLs should display OK in your browser window; the other two should display MOL2 files.

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   Next: Obtaining the IsoStar Client Software

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