AstroGrid DSA/Catalog Hands-On Session

The aim of this hands-on session is to show how to publish tabular data, stored in an RDBMS system, using the AstroGrid DSA/Catalog component.

Sample data will be made available, but participants are also encouraged to try publishing some of their own data. This may be installed on the participant's laptop, or, firewall issues permitting and subject to appropriate ODBC access, on a remote RDBMS. See the Software and data preparation requirements page for more information.

For the active installation phase, participants may choose to participate in a "step-by-step" assisted-installation group, using pre-prepared sample data. Alternatively, they may choose to work independently at their own pace, using the supplied documentation (with support from AstroGrid advisors as needed).

Note: Session timings below are approximate only; active installation may commence in Session 1 if all participants are ready.

Session 1: 10:00-11:30

1. Introduction to the DSA/Catalog component

This section will present a high-level overview of the DSA/Catalog component, exploring its motivations, strengths and weaknesses, and its larger context within the VO.

2. Demonstration

This section will provide a demonstration of the administration and public interfaces of a working DSA/Catalog installation.

3. Preliminary software checks

This section will provide advisor support to ensure that all participants have the necessary tomcat and java installations, and to provide time to sort out any laptop connectivity issues.

Session 2: 12:00-13:30

Pre-prepared configuration files will be supplied for users wishing to wrap the sample data, rather than / in addition to their own data.

• Step 0: Download the DSA/Catalog installation file from here. Rename the downloaded file to dsa.war as this will save a lot of typing later!

• Step 1: Refer to this page to install the DSA/Catalog webapp into tomcat, and configure administration passwords in tomcat. (You can ignore the sections on "Logging" and "Multiple virtual installations".)

• Step 2: Open the home page of your deployed DSA/catalog webapp using a web browser. If your tomcat is running on port 8080 (the default) and your WAR file was called dsa.war, then the webapp should be visible at the following URL: http://localhost:8080/dsa/. Otherwise see this page for instructions on what browser address to use.

• Step 3: Follow the instructions in the Configuring your DSA/catalog link in the left-hand menu of the webapp home page, including:

• • 3a: Checking the initial DSA/catalog installation, running in self-test mode

• • 3b: Reconfiguring the DSA/catalog installation to wrap the sample data, or to wrap your own data

If you wish to wrap the sample data, you can use the following pre-prepared configuration and metadoc files:

• sample.properties: Properties file for sample installation
• sample.metadoc.xml: Metadoc file for sample installation

Note that the properties file will need a small amount of customising for your own particular installation: search for the word "WORKSHOP" in the file to find the properties that will need to be changed.

Here is a JDBC driver jar that will work with the sample data:

• mysql-connector-java-3.1.12-bin.jar: JDBC jar for MySQL

The DSA/catalog's embedded installation documentation is intended to be self-explanatory, but please ask at any time if things don't make sense or aren't working.

Session 3: 15:00-17:00

Active installation will continue.

-- KonaAndrews - 21 Jun 2007