Configuration Guidelines

How to configure a new instance.

File Permissions

chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/cron
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/cron/crontab
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/cache/
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/databases/
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/errors/
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/languages/
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/sessions/
chown www-data web2py/applications/admin/uploads/
cd web2py/applications
bzr branch lp:sahana-eden eden
chown www-data eden/cron
chown www-data eden/cache/
chown www-data eden/databases/
chown www-data eden/errors/
chown www-data eden/languages/
chown www-data eden/sessions/
chown www-data eden/static/img/markers
chown www-data eden/static/scripts/tools
chown www-data eden/static/styles/S3/sahana.css
chown www-data eden/static/styles/S3/sahana.min.css
chown www-data eden/uploads/
mkdir eden/uploads/gis_cache
mkdir eden/uploads/images
mkdir eden/uploads/tracks
chown www-data eden/uploads/gis_cache
chown www-data eden/uploads/images
chown www-data eden/uploads/tracks

Database Setup

Production system should use MySQL:

• Edit models/00_db.py

Security

Before the 1st login, edit models/000_config.py:

deployment_settings.auth.hmac_key = "akeytochange"

Configurable Options

These can be set via ​http://127.0.0.1:8000/sahana/admin/setting/1/update

• Admin Name/Email/Tel
• Debug: improve performance by deselecting this option.
• Self-Registration: disable Self-Registration by deselecting this option.
• Audit Read: Enable Auditing of all Read operations (Display)
• Audit Write: Enable Auditing of all Write operations (Create/Update/Delete)

In time these will be configured by Web Setup.

Some options are currently only configurable via editing {{models/000_config.py}}:

deployment_settings.auth.registration_requires_verification = False
deployment_settings.auth.registration_requires_approval = False
deployment_settings.base.public_url = "http://127.0.0.1:8000"
deployment_settings.base.migrate = True
deployment_settings.mail.server = "127.0.0.1:25"
deployment_settings.mail.sender = "sahana@your.org"
deployment_settings.mail.approver = "useradmin@your.org"
deployment_settings.L10n.utc_offset = "UTC +0000"

We would like to expose these to a Web Setup, although it's low priority as these are mostly installation-time decisions.

Disable unnecessary modules, which is currently done in models/000_config.py

Can also reorganise the Modules menu completely to better display those relevant to the instance:

• edit file models/01_modules.py
• section: s3.menu_modules

If you wish to hide some fields which you don't want to confuse your system, then you can do something like this models/zzz_local.py instead of amending the main model (this means that future merges from trunk won't clobber your changes):

# Hide unnecessary fields
tablename = 'pr_person'
table = db[table]
table.pr_pe_label.readable = False
table.pr_pe_label.writable = False
table.local_name.readable = False
table.local_name.writable = False
table.opt_pr_gender.readable = False
table.opt_pr_gender.writable = False
table.opt_pr_age_group.readable = False
table.opt_pr_age_group.writable = False
table.email.readable = False
table.email.writable = False
table.mobile_phone.readable = False
table.mobile_phone.writable = False
table.date_of_birth.readable = False
table.date_of_birth.writable = False
table.opt_pr_nationality.readable = False
table.opt_pr_nationality.writable = False
table.opt_pr_country.readable = False
table.opt_pr_country.writable = False
table.opt_pr_religion.readable = False
table.opt_pr_religion.writable = False
table.opt_pr_marital_status.readable = False
table.opt_pr_marital_status.writable = False
table.occupation.readable = False
table.occupation.writable = False

Mapping Options

​http://localhost:8000/sahana/gis/config/update/1

Default Map Portal:

• Lat
• Lon
• Zoom

Bounds of relevant area:

• Min Lon
• Max Lat
• Min Lon
• Max Lat

Selecting Base Layers:

• ​http://localhost:8000/sahana/gis/map_service_catalogue

Test out whether OpenStreetMap, Google, Yahoo or Bing have the best road maps & Satellite imagery

API Keys for Google, Yahoo & MultiMap layers:

• ​http://localhost:8000/sahana/gis/apikey

Import Admin Boundaries:

• The locations hierarchy should be populated with L0->L3 data, which are often available in the form of shapefiles
  • Haiti example
  • USA L1-L2: ​http://www2.census.gov/cgi-bin/shapefiles/national-files

Roles

By default the 1st user to register will gain the Administrator role.

All other users have just the 'Authenticated' level of access, which by default allows full Read/Update/Delete access to all records.

To add roles to users, go to the Administration menu & within User Management choose 'Membership'.

Security policy is configured in models/zzz.py

Error Pages

Add the following to routes.py of your web2py installation for pretty error pages & the ability to view Tickets.

• copy from routes.example.py, if one doesn't yet exist.

routes_onerror = [
        ('eden/401', '/eden/default/user/login'),
        ('eden/*', '/eden/errors/index'),
        ('*/*', '/eden/errors/index'),
    ]

favicon.ico & robots.txt

These can be provided via 2 different means:

• mod_rewrite
• web2py/routes.py: copy routes.example.py & edit

Themes

Ensure these files are writable by the webserver:

chown www-data /path/to/web2py/applications/sahana/static/scripts/tools
chown www-data /path/to/web2py/applications/sahana/static/styles/S3/sahana.css
chown www-data /path/to/web2py/applications/sahana/static/styles/S3/sahana.min.css

Colour scheme:

• select using Admin Panel

Logo:

• copy new logo to static/img
• point to this using Admin Panel

Footer:

• copy new footer to views/
• point to this using Admin Panel

DeveloperGuidelinesThemes

Internet Hosting

Can switch to having users download files from CDNs instead of your server.
This can improve performance in 2 ways:

• The CDN may have faster/closer servers to the client
• Increases the number of files being downloaded simultaneously, since pulled from different hostnames: ​http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/tweak/parallel/

jQuery from Google by uncommenting the line in views/sahana_scripts_min.html

ext-all.js & ext-all.css from Cachefly by uncommenting the lines in views/gis/gis_scripts_min.html & views/gis/ol_js_loaders.html

Performance Optimisation

• set Empty=False in models/zzz_1st_run.py instead of doing a DAL hit
• set modules to load from a hardocded app name instead of substituting request.application in models/00_db.py

• Use ​YSlow Firefox plugin to analyse the site
• Ensure images are optimised: ​http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/imageoptimizer/index.php
• Compress JavaScript: ​http://compressorrater.thruhere.net
• Use ​Slimmer on HTML/CSS?
• GZip static files in Apache: ​http://developer.yahoo.com/performance/rules.html#gzip
• Set Expires on static files in Apache
• Use MySQL or PostgreSQL instead of SQLite
• Disable DB migrations in 00_db.py: migrate = False
• Bytecode compile the application
• Enable caching
  • return response.render('customview.html', data=data): ​http://groups.google.com/group/web2py/msg/39210d40d8a729c0
• ​http://groups.google.co.uk/group/web2py/browse_thread/thread/218bb58c96883578
• Clustering with Pound: ​http://www.web2pyslices.com/main/slices/take_slice/33 (​Discussion)

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InstallationGuidelines