Installation
Installation can be error prone and a bit confusing but with a few tips its not too bad.
One Download, Two Components
The package that you download from the Toolkit home page is comprised of two components. After downloading and unpacking you will have two programs in the installation directory, the "Archivist Toolkit" (client) and the "Maintenace Program". The maintenance programs creates all the necessay tables for your inital database and is used to update an existing database upon future releases.
There is a third piece of software needed that the Toolkit does not provide, that is a database server.
Understanding the Client-Server Architecture
The Archivist Toolkit works in a client-server maner. Client-server describes the relationship between two computer programs. The client makes a request to another program, the server, which fulfills the request. You can install the software where both programs, reside on a single computer or install the client on one computer and the database on a different computer. In the second scenario the client connects to the server over a network.
Which is Better, one machine or two?
If only one person at a time is going to be using the Toolkit and that one person is going to working from only one machine than installing both client and server on the same machine is fine. It's probable though, that two or more people may need access to the database. In this case each user would have a client installed on their machine while a third machine would host the the database. (many users, one database).
Before you Begin
Before you begin the installation you might want to take a little time to prepare for some of the prompts that the installation will ask of you. You will need to know:
- the name or IP address to the machine on which the database is to be installed;
- the name you want to use for the database (examples "AT", "Toolkit", "ToolitDB?"). It doesn't matter what the name is just so you remember it ;-).
- a name and password for the database administator/superuser ("ATadmin?", "ToolkitAdmin?");
- a name and password for the regualar Toolkit users ("ATuser?", "ToolkitUsers?"),
- a proper name for you archive ("Achives and Special Collections at WhatsAMatterU?");
- a short name ("WMU Archives")
Setting up a Database Server
The first order of buiness is setting up the database server. The toolkit does not provide it's own database but supports three popular database servers; Microsoft, Oracle, and the open source database MySQL?. Unless you already own licences for Microsft or Oracle, MySQL? is the most likly choice.
The installation overview page on the Achivist Toolkit Wiki is a great starting place for setting up the server component of the toolkit. This page outines the necessary steps to setup the database server.
These steps include:
- downloading the database server software;
- installing the database server;
- creating a blank database;
- creating the user accounts for both administation and client use;
- running the Maintenace Program to initalize the the blank database.
You will have to read these pages carefully but they give you all the information you need to get your instance of the toolkit running.
Connecting the Client to the Server
After you setup the database server and run the "Maintenance Program" launch the the "Archivist Toolkit" client. It will prompt you for the regular user name and password that you created in the database setup. The User's Manual provides detail instructions on the use of the tookkit.