Installing DSpace

Installation Overview

As of version 7 (and above), the DSpace application is split into a "frontend" (User Interface) and a "backend" (Server API).  Most institutions will want to install BOTH.  However, you can decide whether to run them on the same machine or separate machines.

• The DSpace Frontend consists of a User Interface built on Angular.io.  It cannot be run alone, as it requires a valid DSpace Backend to function.  The frontend provides all user-facing functionality
• The DSpace Backend consists of a Server API ("server" webapp), built on Spring Boot.  It can be run standalone, however it has no user interface.  The backend provides all machine-based interfaces, including the REST API, OAI-PMH, SWORD (v1 and v2) and RDF.

We recommend installing the Backend first, as the Frontend requires a valid Backend to run properly.

Installing the Backend (Server API)

Backend Requirements

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   <proxy>
      <active>true</active>
      <protocol>http</protocol>
      <host>proxy.somewhere.com</host>
      <port>8080</port>
      <username>proxyuser</username>
      <password>somepassword</password>
      <nonProxyHosts>www.google.com|*.somewhere.com</nonProxyHosts>
    </proxy>
  </proxies>
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</settings>

Backend Installation

1. Install all the Installing DSpace#Backend Requirements listed above.

2. Create a DSpace operating system user (optional) .  As noted in the prerequisites above, Tomcat (or Jetty, etc) must run as an operating system user account that has full read/write access to the DSpace installation directory (i.e. [dspace]).  Either you must ensure the Tomcat owner also owns [dspace], OR you can create a new "dspace" user account, and ensure that Tomcat also runs as that account:

   useradd -m dspace

3. Download the latest DSpace release from the DSpace GitHub Repository. You can choose to either download the zip or tar.gz file provided by GitHub, or you can use "git" to checkout the appropriate tag (e.g. dspace-7.0-beta2) or branch.
4. Unpack the DSpace software. After downloading the software, based on the compression file format, choose one of the following methods to unpack your software:
   

   1. Zip file. If you downloaded dspace-7.0-beta2.zip do the following:

      unzip dspace-7.0-beta2.zip

   2. .gz file. If you downloaded dspace-7.0-beta.tar.gz do the following:

      gunzip -c dspace-7.0-beta2.tar.gz | tar -xf -

      For ease of reference, we will refer to the location of this unzipped version of the DSpace release as [dspace-source] in the remainder of these instructions. After unpacking the file, the user may wish to change the ownership of the dspace-7.x folder to the "dspace" user. (And you may need to change the group).

5. Database Setup
   
   • PostgreSQL:
     

     • Create a dspace database user (this user can have any name, but we'll assume you name them "dspace"). This is entirely separate from the dspace operating-system user created above:

       createuser --username=postgres --no-superuser --pwprompt dspace

       You will be prompted (twice) for a password for the new dspace user.  Then you'll be prompted for the password of the PostgreSQL superuser (postgres).

     • Create a dspace database, owned by the dspace PostgreSQL user. Similar to the previous step, this can only be done by a "superuser" account in PostgreSQL (e.g. postgres):

       createdb --username=postgres --owner=dspace --encoding=UNICODE dspace

       You will be prompted for the password of the PostgreSQL superuser (postgres).

     • Finally, you MUST enable the pgcrypto extension on your new dspace database.  Again, this can only be enabled by a "superuser" account (e.g. postgres)

       # Login to the database as a superuser, and enable the pgcrypto extension on this database
       psql --username=postgres dspace -c "CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto;"

       The "CREATE EXTENSION" command should return with no result if it succeeds. If it fails or throws an error, it is likely you are missing the required pgcrypto extension (see Database Prerequisites above).

       • Alternative method: How to enable pgcrypto via a separate database schema. While the above method of enabling pgcrypto is perfectly fine for the majority of users, there may be some scenarios where a database administrator would prefer to install extensions into a database schema that is separate from the DSpace tables. Developers also may wish to install pgcrypto into a separate schema if they plan to "clean" (recreate) their development database frequently. Keeping extensions in a separate schema from the DSpace tables will ensure developers would NOT have to continually re-enable the extension each time you run a "./dspace database clean". If you wish to install pgcrypto in a separate schema here's how to do that:

         # Login to the database as a superuser
         psql --username=postgres dspace
         # Create a new schema in this database named "extensions" (or whatever you want to name it)
         CREATE SCHEMA extensions;
         # Enable this extension in this new schema
         CREATE EXTENSION pgcrypto SCHEMA extensions;
         # Grant rights to call functions in the extensions schema to your dspace user
         GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA extensions TO dspace;
         
         
         # Append "extensions" on the current session's "search_path" (if it doesn't already exist in search_path)
         # The "search_path" config is the list of schemas that Postgres will use
         SELECT set_config('search_path',current_setting('search_path') || ',extensions',false) WHERE current_setting('search_path') !~ '(^|,)extensions(,|$)';
         # Verify the current session's "search_path" and make sure it's correct
         SHOW search_path;
         # Now, update the "dspace" Database to use the same "search_path" (for all future sessions) as we've set for this current session (i.e. via set_config() above)
         ALTER DATABASE dspace SET search_path FROM CURRENT;

   • Oracle:
     

     • Setting up DSpace to use Oracle is a bit different now. You will need still need to get a copy of the Oracle JDBC driver, but instead of copying it into a lib directory you will need to install it into your local Maven repository. (You'll need to download it first from this location: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/jdbc-112010-090769.html.) Run the following command (all on one line):

       mvn install:install-file
           -Dfile=ojdbc6.jar
           -DgroupId=com.oracle
           -DartifactId=ojdbc6
           -Dversion=11.2.0.4.0
           -Dpackaging=jar
           -DgeneratePom=true
       

     • You need to compile DSpace with an Oracle driver (ojdbc6.jar) corresponding to your Oracle version - update the version in [dspace-source]/pom.xml  E.g.:

       <dependency>
         <groupId>com.oracle</groupId>
         <artifactId>ojdbc6</artifactId>
         <version>11.2.0.4.0</version>
       </dependency>
       

     • Create a database for DSpace. Make sure that the character set is one of the Unicode character sets. DSpace uses UTF-8 natively, and it is required that the Oracle database use the same character set. Create a user account for DSpace (e.g. dspace) and ensure that it has permissions to add and remove tables in the database.

     • NOTE: You will need to ensure the proper db.* settings are specified in your local.cfg file (see next step), as the defaults for all of these settings assuming a PostgreSQL database backend.

       db.url = jdbc:oracle:thin:@host:port/SID
       # e.g. db.url = jdbc:oracle:thin:@//localhost:1521/xe
       # NOTE: in db.url, SID is the SID of your database defined in tnsnames.ora
       # the default Oracle port is 1521
       # You may also use a full SID definition, e.g.
       # db.url = jdbc:oracle:thin:@(description=(address_list=(address=(protocol=TCP)(host=localhost)(port=1521)))(connect_data=(service_name=DSPACE)))
       
       # Oracle driver and dialect
       db.driver = oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
       db.dialect = org.hibernate.dialect.Oracle10gDialect
       
       # Specify DB username, password and schema to use
       db.username =
       db.password =
       db.schema = ${db.username}
       # For Oracle, schema is equivalent to the username of your database account,
       # so this may be set to ${db.username} in most scenarios

     • Later, during the Maven build step, don't forget to specify mvn -Ddb.name=oracle package

6. Initial Configuration (local.cfg):  Create your own [dspace-source]/dspace/config/local.cfg configuration file (you may wish to simply copy the provided [dspace-source]/dspace/config/local.cfg.EXAMPLE). This local.cfg file can be used to store any configuration changes that you wish to make which are local to your installation (see local.cfg configuration file documentation). ANY setting may be copied into this local.cfg file from the dspace.cfg or any other *.cfg file in order to override the default setting (see note below).  For the initial installation of DSpace, there are some key settings you'll likely want to override, those are provided in the [dspace-source]/dspace/config/local.cfg.EXAMPLE. (NOTE: Settings followed with an asterisk (*) are highly recommended, while all others are optional during initial installation and may be customized at a later time)
   
   • dspace.dir* - must be set to the [dspace] (installation) directory  (NOTE: On Windows be sure to use forward slashes for the directory path!  For example: "C:/dspace" is a valid path for Windows.)
   • dspace.server.url* - complete URL of this DSpace backend (including port and any subpath).  For example: http://localhost:8080/server/
   • dspace.ui.url* - complete URL of the DSpace frontend (including port and any subpath). REQUIRED for the REST API to fully trust requests from the DSpace frontend. For example: http://localhost:4000/
   • dspace.name - "Proper" name of your server, e.g. "My Digital Library".
   • solr.server* - complete URL of the Solr server. DSpace makes use of Solr for indexing purposes.  http://localhost:8983/ unless you changed the port or installed Solr on some other host.
   • default.language - Default language for all metadata values (defaults to "en_US")
   • db.url* - The full JDBC URL to your database (examples are provided in the local.cfg.EXAMPLE)

   • db.driver* - Which database driver to use, based on whether you are using PostgreSQL or Oracle

   • db.dialect* - Which database dialect to use, based on whether you are using PostgreSQL or Oracle
   • db.username* - the database username used in the previous step.
   • db.password* - the database password used in the previous step.
   • db.schema* - the database scheme to use (examples are provided in the local.cfg.EXAMPLE)
   • mail.server - fully-qualified domain name of your outgoing mail server.
   • mail.from.address - the "From:" address to put on email sent by DSpace.
   • mail.feedback.recipient - mailbox for feedback mail.
   • mail.admin - mailbox for DSpace site administrator.
   • mail.alert.recipient - mailbox for server errors/alerts (not essential but very useful!)

   • mail.registration.notify- mailbox for emails when new users register (optional)

     Your local.cfg file can override ANY settings from other *.cfg files in DSpace

     The provided local.cfg.EXAMPLE only includes a small subset of the configuration settings available with DSpace. It provides a good starting point for your own local.cfg file.

     However, you should be aware that ANY configuration can now be copied into your local.cfg to override the default settings.  This includes ANY of the settings/configurations in:

     • The primary dspace.cfg file ([dspace]/config/dspace.cfg)
     • Any of the module configuration files ([dspace]/config/modules/*.cfg files)

     Individual settings may also be commented out or removed in your local.cfg, in order to re-enable default settings.

     See the Configuration Reference section for more details.

7. DSpace Directory: Create the directory for the DSpace backend installation (i.e. [dspace]). As root (or a user with appropriate permissions), run:

   mkdir [dspace]
   chown dspace [dspace]

   (Assuming the dspace UNIX username.)

8. Build the Installation Package: As the dspace UNIX user, generate the DSpace installation package.

   cd [dspace-source]
   mvn package
   

   Building with Oracle Database Support

   Without any extra arguments, the DSpace installation package is initialized for PostgreSQL. If you want to use Oracle instead, you should build the DSpace installation package as follows:
   mvn -Ddb.name=oracle package

9. Install DSpace: As the dspace UNIX user, install DSpace to [dspace]:

   cd [dspace-source]/dspace/target/dspace-installer
   ant fresh_install

   To see a complete list of build targets, run: ant help The most likely thing to go wrong here is the test of your database connection. See the Installing DSpace (OLD - to be removed)#Common Problems Section below for more details.

10. Deploy Server web application: The DSpace backend consists of a single "server" webapp (in [dspace]/webapps/server).  You need to deploy this webapp into your Servlet Container (e.g. Tomcat).  Generally, there are two options (or techniques) which you could use...either configure Tomcat to find the DSpace "server" webapp, or copy the "server" webapp into Tomcat's own webapps folder.

    • Technique A. Tell your Tomcat/Jetty/Resin installation where to find your DSpace web application(s). As an example, in the directory [tomcat]/conf/Catalina/localhost you could add files similar to the following (but replace [dspace]with your installation location):

      DEFINE A CONTEXT PATH FOR DSpace Server webapp: server.xml

      <?xml version='1.0'?>
      <Context
      	docBase="[dspace]/webapps/server"/>

      The name of the file (not including the suffix ".xml") will be the name of the context, so for example server.xml defines the context at http://host:8080/server.  To define the root context (http://host:8080/), name that context's file ROOT.xml.   Optionally, you can also choose to install the old, deprecated "rest" webapp if you

    • Technique B. Simple and complete. You copy only (or all) of the DSpace Web application(s) you wish to use from the [dspace]/webapps directory to the appropriate directory in your Tomcat/Jetty/Resin installation. For example:
      cp -R [dspace]/webapps/* [tomcat]/webapps* (This will copy all the web applications to Tomcat).
      cp -R [dspace]/webapps/server [tomcat]/webapps* (This will copy only the Server web application to Tomcat.)

      To define the root context (http://host:8080/), name that context's directory ROOT.

11. Optionally, also install the deprecated DSpace 6.x REST API web application.  If you previously used the DSpace 6.x REST API, for backwards compatibility the old, deprecated "rest" webapp is still available to install (in [dspace]/webapps/rest). It is NOT used by the DSpace frontend.  So, most users should skip this step.

12. Copy Solr cores:  DSpace installation creates a set of four empty Solr cores already configured.  Copy them from [dspace]/solr to the place where your Solr instance will discover them.  Start (or re-start) Solr.  For example:

    cp -R [dspace]/solr/* [solr]/server/solr/configsets
    [solr]/bin/solr restart

    
You can check the status of Solr and your new DSpace cores by using its administrative web interface.  Browse to http://localhost:8983/ to see if Solr is running well, then look at the cores by selecting (on the left) Core Admin or using the Core Selector drop list.

13. Create an Administrator Account:  Create an initial administrator account from the command line:

    [dspace]/bin/dspace create-administrator

    
    

14. Initial Startup!  Now the moment of truth! Start up (or restart) Tomcat/Jetty/Resin.
    
    1. REST API Interface - (e.g.)  http://dspace.myu.edu:8080/server/
    2. OAI-PMH Interface - (e.g.)  http://dspace.myu.edu:8080/server/oai/request?verb=Identify
    3. For an example of what the default backend looks like, visit the Demo Backend: https://dspace7.4science.cloud/server/

Installing the Frontend (User Interface)

Frontend Requirements

Frontend Installation

1. First, install all the Installing DSpace#Frontend Requirements listed above.
2. Download the latest dspace-angular release from the DSpace GitHub repository. You can choose to either download the zip or tar.gz file provided by GitHub, or you can use "git" to checkout the appropriate tag (e.g. dspace-7.0-beta3) or branch.

3. Install all necessary local dependencies by running the following from within the unzipped "dspace-angular" directory

   # change directory to our repo
   cd dspace-angular
   
   # install the local dependencies
   yarn install

4. Modify the Frontend configuration to point at your DSpace Backend
   1. By default the Frontend will be configured to use the Demo Backend at https://dspace7.4science.cloud/server/

   2. Modify the "rest" section of the [dspace-angular]/src/environment/environment.common.ts configuration file, pointing it at your installed DSpace Backend.  For example:

      // This example is valid if your Backend is running at http://localhost:8080/server/
      // It should be kept in sync with the value of "dspace.server.url" in the backend local.cfg
      rest: {
         ssl: false,
         host: 'localhost',
         port: 8080,
         // NOTE: Space is capitalized because 'namespace' is a reserved string in TypeScript
         nameSpace: '/server/api'
      }

   3. (If necessary) modify the "ui" section of the [dspace-angular]/src/environment/environment.common.ts configuration file to match the host & port that you plan to run the UI from.  By default, these settings assume you will run the UI from http://localhost:4000/

      // This example is valid if your UI will be running at http://localhost:4000
      // It should be kept in sync with the value of "dspace.ui.url" in the backend local.cfg
      ui: {
         ssl: false,
         host: 'localhost',
         port: 4000,
         // NOTE: Space is capitalized because 'namespace' is a reserved string in TypeScript
         nameSpace: '/'
      }

   4. Alternatively, if you want, you can copy the "environment.common.ts" to a new file called "environment.prod.ts" and modify that new file.

5. Start the application

   # build and start the application
   yarn start

   1. To stop the application at any time, use Ctrl + C
6. After a few minutes, the user interface will be running on your local machine. 
   1. Visit http://localhost:4000/
   2. For an example of what the default frontend looks like, visit the Demo Frontend: https://dspace7-demo.atmire.com/

What Next?

After a successful installation, you may want to take a closer look at

• Advanced Installation options (LINK COMING)
• Configuration Reference : Details on the configuration options available to the Backend
• Using DSpace

If you've run into installation problems, you may want to...

• Review commons installation issues (LINK COMING)
• Ask for Support via one of the support options documented on that page